2 Kings 17
1 Elah’s son Hoshea began to rule Israel after King Ahaz had ruled Judah for twelve years. Hoshea ruled in Samaria for nine years.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah reigned hath Hoshea son of Elah in Samaria, over Israel — nine years,
2 He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, but he did not do as many evil things as the previous kings of Israel had done.
and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, only, not as the kings of Israel who were before him;
3 [The army of] King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked and defeated [the army of] King Hoshea. As a result, the Israelis were forced to pay a lot of tribute/taxes to Assyria each year.
against him came up Shalmaneser king of Asshur, and Hoshea is to him a servant, and doth render to him a present.
4 But several years later, Hoshea secretly planned to rebel against the rulers of Assyria. He sent messengers to So/Osorkon, the king of Egypt, [asking if his army could help the Israelis fight against the army of Assyria]. Hoshea also stopped paying the tribute/taxes that he had been paying to Assyria every year. But the king of Assyria found out about those things, so he told his officers to put Hoshea in prison.
And the king of Asshur findeth in Hoshea a conspiracy, in that he hath sent messengers unto So king of Egypt, and hath not caused a present to go up to the king of Asshur, as year by year, and the king of Asshur restraineth him, and bindeth him in a house of restraint.
5 Then he [brought the army of] Assyria to Israel, and they attacked everywhere in that land. His army surrounded Samaria [city] for three years.
And the king of Asshur goeth up into all the land, and he goeth up to Samaria, and layeth siege against it three years;
6 Finally, after King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for nine years, the army of Assyria [MTY] [forcefully entered] the city [and] captured [the people]. They took the Israeli people to Assyria and forced some of them to live in Halah [town]. They forced others to live near the Habor River in Gozan district. They forced others to live in the towns where the Mede people-group lived.
in the ninth year of Hoshea hath the king of Asshur captured Samaria, and removeth Israel to Asshur, and causeth them to dwell in Halah, and in Habor, [by] the river Gozan, and [in] the cities of the Medes.
7 Those things happened because the Israeli people had sinned against Yahweh their God. He had rescued their [ancestors] from the power [MTY] of the king of Egypt and brought them [safely] out of Egypt, but later they began to worship other gods.
And it cometh to pass, because the sons of Israel have sinned against Jehovah their God — who bringeth them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt — and fear other gods,
8 They imitated the things that the heathen/pagan people-groups did. Those were the groups that Yahweh had expelled as the Israelis occupied their land. The Israeli people also did the evil things that the kings of Israel (introduced/showed to them).
and walk in the statutes of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they made;
9 The Israeli people also secretly did many things that were not pleasing to Yahweh their God. They built shrines [to worship idols] in all their cities, including small towns and big cities with walls around them.
and the sons of Israel do covertly things that [are] not right against Jehovah their God, and build for them high places in all their cities, from a tower of the watchers unto the fenced city,
10 They set up stone pillars [to honor gods], and poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah at the top of every high hill and under every [big] tree.
and set up for them standing-pillars and shrines on every high height, and under every green tree,
11 The Israelis burned incense in every place where they worshiped those gods, just like the people-groups who lived there previously had done—the groups that Yahweh had expelled from the land. The Israelis did many wicked things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
and make perfume there in all high places, like the nations that Jehovah removed from their presence, and do evil things to provoke Jehovah,
12 Yahweh warned them many times that they should not worship idols, but they did it anyway.
and serve the idols, of which Jehovah said to them, 'Ye do not do this thing;'
13 Yahweh frequently sent his prophets and (seers/those who saw visions from Yahweh) to warn the people of Israel and the people of Judah. The message that Yahweh gave them was, “Turn away from all your evil behavior. Obey my commands and my laws, the laws that I told your ancestors [to obey] and which I told the prophets who served me to tell to you [again].”
And Jehovah testifieth against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of every prophet, and every seer, saying, 'Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My commands, My statutes, according to all the law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent unto you by the hand of My servants the prophets;'
14 But the Israeli people would not pay attention. They were stubborn [IDM] just like their ancestors were. Just like their ancestors did, they refused to believe in Yahweh their God.
and they have not hearkened, and harden their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who did not remain stedfast in Jehovah their God,
15 They rejected Yahweh’s laws and the agreement that he had made with their ancestors. They ignored Yahweh’s warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and as a result they themselves became worthless. Although Yahweh had commanded them not to imitate the evil behavior of the people-groups that lived near them, they disobeyed that command.
and reject His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them, and go after the vain thing, and become vain, and after the nations that are round about them, of whom Jehovah commanded them not to do like them;
16 The Israeli people disobeyed all of Yahweh’s commands. They made two metal calves [to worship]. They set up two poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah, and they worshiped [the god] Baal, and the sun, the moon, and the stars.
And they forsake all the commands of Jehovah their God, and make to them a molten image — two calves, and make a shrine, and bow themselves to all the host of the heavens, and serve Baal,
17 They also burned their own sons and daughters to be sacrifices [to those gods]. They went to fortune-tellers and they practiced sorcery. They continually chose [MET] to do [all kinds of] evil things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
and cause their sons and their daughters to pass over through fire, and divine divinations, and use enchantments, and sell themselves to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him;
18 So, because Yahweh was very angry with the Israeli people, he allowed [their enemies] to take them away [from their country]. Only the people of the tribe of Judah were left [in the land].
That Jehovah sheweth himself very angry against Israel, and turneth them aside from His presence; none hath been left, only the tribe of Judah by itself.
19 But even the people of Judah did not obey the commands of Yahweh their God. They imitated the evil customs that the Israelis had introduced.
Also Judah hath not kept the commands of Jehovah their God, and they walk in the statutes of Israel that they had made.
20 So Yahweh rejected all the people of Israel and of Judah. He punished them by allowing the armies of other nations to defeat them [and take them away]. He got rid of all of them.
And Jehovah kicketh against all the seed of Israel, and afflicteth them, and giveth them into the hand of spoilers, till that He hath cast them out of His presence,
21 Earlier, when Yahweh allowed the people of Israel to separate/break away from the area [MTY] that King David [had estabished], they chose Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, to be their king. Then Jeroboam enticed the people of Israel to stop worshiping Yahweh [and to worship idols instead]. He led them to commit great sins.
for He hath rent Israel from the house of David, and they make Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam driveth Israel from after Jehovah, and hath caused them to sin a great sin,
22 And the Israeli people continued to do the evil things that Jeroboam introduced. They did not turn away from those sins,
and the sons of Israel walk in all the sins of Jeroboam that he did, they have not turned aside therefrom,
23 until finally Yahweh got rid of them. That was just what his prophets had warned would happen. The Israeli people were taken away to the land of Assyria, and they still remain there.
till that Jehovah hath turned Israel aside from His presence, as He spake by the hand of all His servants the prophets, and Israel is removed from off its land to Asshur, unto this day.
24 The king of Assyria [ordered his soldiers to] take [groups of] people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim [cities] to [the] Samaria [region], and to resettle them in the towns there, to take the place of the Israelis [who lived there previously]. Those people took control over [the whole] Samaria [region] and lived in the towns there.
And the king of Asshur bringeth in from Babylon and from Cutha, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and causeth [them] to dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they possess Samaria, and dwell in its cities;
25 But those people [who came from other countries] did not worship Yahweh when they first arrived in Samaria. So Yahweh sent lions to kill some of them.
and it cometh to pass, at the commencement of their dwelling there, they have not feared Jehovah, and Jehovah doth send among them the lions, and they are destroying among them.
26 Then those people sent a message to the king of Assyria. They wrote, “We people who have resettled in the towns in Samaria do not know how to worship the God [that the Israelis worshiped] in this land. So he has sent lions among us to kill us, because we have not worshiped him correctly.”
And they speak to the king of Asshur, saying, 'The nations that thou hast removed, and dost place in the cities of Samaria, have not known the custom of the God of the land, and He sendeth among them the lions, and lo, they are destroying them, as they do not know the custom of the God of the land.'
27 [When] the king of Assyria [read this letter, he] commanded [his officers], “You brought many priests here from Samaria. Send one of them back there. Tell him to teach the people who are now living there how to worship correctly the God whom the Israelis worshiped in that land.”
And the king of Asshur commandeth, saying, 'Cause to go thither one of the priests whom ye removed thence, and they go and dwell there, and he doth teach them the custom of the God of the land.'
28 So [the officers did that]. They sent one of the Israeli priests back to Samaria. That priest went to live in Bethel [city], and he taught the people there how to worship Yahweh.
And one of the priests whom they removed from Samaria cometh in, and dwelleth in Beth-El, and he is teaching them how they do fear Jehovah,
29 But the people [who returned from Babylon and started to live in Samaria and] continued to make their own idols. They placed them in the shrines that the Israelis had built there. The people of each people-group made idols in the cities in which they were living.
and they are making each nation its gods, and place [them] in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans have made, each nation in their cities where they are dwelling.
30 The people from Babylon made idols to represent their god Succoth-Benoth. The people from Cuthah made idols to represent their god Nergal. The people from Hamath made idols to represent their god Ashima.
And the men of Babylon have made Succoth-Benoth, and the men of Cuth have made Nergal, and the men of Hamath have made Ashima,
31 The people of Avva made idols to represent their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim sacrificed their own children. They completely burned them [in pits where hot fires were kept burning, ] as offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
and the Avites have made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites are burning their sons with fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, gods of Sepharvim.
32 But those people also worshiped Yahweh, and they appointed from among their own groups many people to be priests at the shrines on the tops of the hills, in order that those priests could offer sacrifices for them there.
And they are fearing Jehovah, and make to themselves from their extremities priests of high places, and they are acting for them in the house of the high places.
33 So they revered Yahweh, but they also worshiped their own gods, just as the people living in the countries from which they had been taken to Samaria did.
Jehovah they are fearing, and their gods they are serving, according to the custom of the nations whence they removed them.
34 They still keep their old customs. They really do not worship Yahweh, and they do not obey all the laws and commands that Yahweh gave to the descendants of Jacob, to whom he gave the new name Israel.
Unto this day they are doing according to the former customs — they are not fearing Jehovah, and are not doing according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the law, and according to the command, that Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob whose name He made Israel,
35 Yahweh had previously made an agreement with their ancestors, commanding them not to worship other gods or bow down to honor them or do other things to please them or offer sacrifices to them.
and Jehovah maketh with them a covenant, and chargeth them, saying, 'Ye do not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,
36 He had said to them, “You must have an awesome respect for me, Yahweh, the one who brought you out of Egypt with my very great power [DOU]. I am the one whom you must bow down to honor, and I am the one to whom you must offer sacrifices.
but Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a stretched-out arm, Him ye do fear, and to Him ye bow yourselves, and to Him ye do sacrifice;
37 You must always obey the laws and commands that I [told Moses to] write for you. You must not worship other gods.
and the statutes, and the judgments, and the law, and the command, that He wrote for you, ye observe to do all the days, and ye do not fear other gods;
38 And you must not forget the agreement that I made with your ancestors. You must not revere other gods.
and the covenant that I have made with you ye do not forget, and ye do not fear other gods;
39 Instead, you must revere me, Yahweh, your God. If you do that, I will rescue you from the power [MTY] of all your enemies.”
but Jehovah your God ye do fear, and He doth deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies;'
40 But the people [from those foreign nations] would not heed what Yahweh said. Instead, they continued to adhere to their old customs.
and they have not hearkened, but according to their former custom they are doing,
41 So, they worshiped Yahweh, but they also worshiped their idols. And their descendants still do the same thing.
and these nations are fearing Jehovah, and their graven images they have served, both their sons and their sons' sons; as their fathers did, they are doing unto this day.
