2 Kings 17:5-23

5Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria ^acaptured Samaria, ^band he carried the Israelites away to Assyria ^cand placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of ^dGozan, and in the cities of ^ethe Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

7And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^fwho had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 ^gand walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^hand in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ⁱfrom watchtower to fortified city. 10They set up for themselves ^jpillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12and they served idols, ^kof which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 13Yet the Lord ^lwarned Israel and Judah ^mby every prophet ⁿand every seer, saying, ^o“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

14But they would not listen, ^pbut were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15They despised his statutes ^qand his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after ^rfalse idols ^sand became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the ^tLord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of ^utwo calves; and they ^vmade an Asherah and ^wworshiped all the host of heaven and served ^xBaal. 17 ^yAnd they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings ▼

▼Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire

and used ^aadivination and ^abomens and ^acsold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ^adthe tribe of Judah only.

19 ^aeJudah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them ^afand gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21 ^agWhen he had torn Israel from the house of David, ^ahthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord ^aiand made them commit great sin. 22The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, 23until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, ^ajas he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. ^akSo Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Ezra 4:2

2they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^alsince the days of ^amEsarhaddon king of Assyria ^anwho brought us here.”

Isaiah 8:4

4 ^aofor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^apwealth of ^aqDamascus and the spoil of ^arSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 17:1-3

An Oracle Concerning Damascus

1An ^asoracle concerning ^atDamascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of ^auAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and ^avnone will make them afraid.
3The fortress will disappear from ^awEphraim,
and the kingdom from ^axDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like ^aythe glory of the children of Israel,

declares the Lord of hosts.