1 In the twelfth year {shtayim esreh: dual numbering} of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began his reign in Samaria {shomron: northern capital} over Israel and ruled for nine years.
2 And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him {lefanav: earlier rulers}.
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up against him, and Hoshea became his servant {eved: subordinate under authority} and brought him tribute {minchah: gift of allegiance}.
4 But the king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy {kesher: secret alliance} in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had not brought tribute {minchah: annual payment} to the king of Assyria as in previous years. So the king of Assyria restrained him and imprisoned him in a house of confinement.
5 And the king of Assyria {Ashur: imperial monarch} advanced throughout the land {ha-aretz: entire territory}, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and exiled Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah {Halah: exile settlement} and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the towns of Media {Madai: region of the Medes}.
7 And it happened that, because the sons of Israel sinned against the LORD {YHWH, Offended Covenant Lord} their God {Elohim, Exodus Deliverer}, the One who brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, they feared other gods.
8 And they walked in the statutes {chukot: binding decrees} of the nations that the LORD {YHWH, Nation-Dispossessor} had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in those of the kings of Israel that they had done.
9 And the sons of Israel acted in secret and did things that were not right against the LORD {YHWH: Covenant Guardian} their God, and they built for themselves high places {bamot: unauthorized sanctuaries} in all their cities, from the watchmen’s tower to the fortified city.
10 And they set up for themselves standing-stones {matsevot: cult monuments} and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree {raanan: luxuriant foliage}.
11 And they burned incense {vayekatteru: ritual aromatic offering} there in all the high places like the nations whom the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} had exiled from before them, and they did evil things to provoke the LORD.
12 And they served the idols, which the LORD {YHWH, Law Giver} had told them, “You shall not do this thing {davar: command or act}.”
13 And the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Witness} warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn back from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes {mitzvot: specific directives}, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But they did not listen and stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Judge} their God {Elohim, Covenant Partner}.
15 And they rejected his statutes {chukav: binding decree} and his covenant which he made with their ancestors, as well as his testimonies which he bore witness among them. And they went after vanity and became vain, following the nations around them whom the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} had commanded them not to do as they did.
16 And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God {YHWH Eloheihem: their covenant God} and made for themselves a molten idol of two calves, set up an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal {ba'al: Canaanite storm lord}.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and they practiced divinations {kesamim: occult rituals} and soothsaying, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge}, to provoke Him to anger.
18 And the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} was very angry with Israel and removed them from before His face. Only the tribe of Judah was left by itself {levado: set apart alone}.
19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments {mitsvot: binding decrees} of the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} their God {Eloheihem, National Protector}, but they walked in the statutes of Israel that Israel had made.
20 And the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He cast them out from before His presence {mipanav: divine face}.
21 For Israel tore away {kara: broke away} from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} and caused them to sin.
22 And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins {chattot: deliberate offenses} of Jeroboam that he committed; they did not turn aside {saru: depart entirely} from them.
23 Until the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} removed Israel from His presence, just as He spoke by the hand of all His servants the prophets {nevi’im: divine messengers}, and exiled Israel from His land to Assyria, until this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled {vayoshev: assigned dwellings} them in the cities of Samaria as a substitute {tachat: substitution} for the Israelites. Then they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
25 And it happened at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, and the LORD sent among them the lions, and they were killing {horgim: actively devouring} among them.
26 And they said to the king of Assyria, “The nations whom you exiled and caused to dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the ordinance {mishpat: prescribed custom} of the God of the land {Elohei haaretz: God worshiped in this land}. Therefore He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them because they do not know the ordinance of the God of the land.”
27 And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Bring there one of the priests whom you exiled from there, and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the custom {mishpat: prescribed practice} of the God {Elohei ha’aretz: regional deity} of the land.”
28 Then one of the priests who had been exiled {higlu: forced deportation} from Samaria came and settled in Bethel, and he became their teacher, instructing them how they should fear the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}.
29 And each nation made its own gods {elohav: idols of worship} and set them in the shrines {bamah: worship sites} that the Samaritans had built in the cities where they lived.
30 And the men from Babylon made Succoth-benoth {sukkot benot: cult figure}, and the men from Cuth made Nergal {nergal: pagan god}, and the men from Hamath made Ashima.
31 And the Avvites {avvim: foreign settlers} made Nibhaz and Tartaq, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods {elohei: patron gods} of Sepharvaim.
32 They feared the LORD {YHWH, Object of Worship}, but they also made for themselves from among themselves priests of the high places, and they continually offered sacrifices for them in the house of the high places {bamot: sites of unauthorized worship}.
33 They feared the LORD {YHWH, Sole Ruler} and they served their gods according to the custom {mishpat: accepted ritual} of the nations from which they had been deported.
34 Until this day they do not fear the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Lawgiver} and continue in their former judgments {harishonim: ancestral patterns}, neglecting their statutes, judgments, the law, and the commandment that the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
35 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Maker} made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You must not fear other gods {elohim: spiritual beings}, nor prostrate yourselves before them, nor render them service, nor offer sacrifices to them.”
36 The LORD {YHWH, Redeemer} is the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power {koakh: might} and with an outstretched arm; Him you shall fear, to Him you shall bow down, and to Him you shall offer sacrifices.
37 And the statutes {khukkim: fixed decrees} and the judgments and the law and the commandment which He {YHWH, Covenant Legislator} wrote for you, you shall be careful to keep and do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.
38 And the covenant which I {YHWH, Covenant Upholder} made with you, you shall not forget {tishkechu: fail to remember}; and you shall not fear other gods.
39 Yet you must revere the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Supreme Ruler}, and He will set you free from the grip of every foe {oyev: adversary}.
40 But they did not heed {shame’u: refusal to obey}; instead, they continued in their custom {mishpatam: patterned conduct}.
41 And these nations feared the LORD {YHWH, Feared Sovereign}, and they were serving their idols {pesilim: carved gods}; also their children and their grandchildren, just as their fathers did, they are doing to this day.