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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>2 Kings 17 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/17.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/2_kings/17-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > 2 Kings 17</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/16.htm" title="2 Kings 16">◄</a> 2 Kings 17 <a href="../2_kings/18.htm" title="2 Kings 18">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">King Hoshea of Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_1"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.1" class="v12_17_1">1</span>Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in the twelfth year of Ahaz's rule in Judah, and he ruled nine years from Samaria. </span><span class="v12_17_2"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.2" class="v12_17_2">2</span>Hoshea disobeyed the <span class="nd">Lord</span> and sinned, but not as much as the earlier Israelite kings had done.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_3"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.3" class="v12_17_3">3</span>During Hoshea's rule, King Shalmaneser of Assyria<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.3!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> invaded Israel; he took control of the country and made Hoshea pay taxes. </span><span class="v12_17_4"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.4" class="v12_17_4">4</span>But later, Hoshea refused to pay the taxes and asked King So of Egypt to help him rebel. When Shalmaneser found out, he arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Samaria Is Destroyed and the Israelites Are Taken to Assyria</h3><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_5"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.5" class="v12_17_5">5</span>Shalmaneser invaded Israel and attacked the city of Samaria for three years, </span><span class="v12_17_6"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.6" class="v12_17_6">6</span>before capturing it in the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. The Assyrian king<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.6!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> took the Israelites away to Assyria as prisoners. He forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the Habor River in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_7"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.7" class="v12_17_7">7</span>All of this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the <span class="nd">Lord</span> their God, who had rescued them from Egypt, where they had been slaves. They worshiped foreign gods, </span><span class="v12_17_8"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.8" class="v12_17_8">8</span>followed the customs of the nations that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had forced out of Israel, and were just as sinful as the Israelite kings. </span><span class="v12_17_9"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.9" class="v12_17_9">9</span>Even worse, the Israelites tried to hide their sins from the <span class="nd">Lord</span> their God. They built their own local shrines everywhere in Israel—from small towns to large, walled cities. </span><span class="v12_17_10"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.10" class="v12_17_10">10</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.10!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> They also built stone images of foreign gods and set up sacred poles<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.10!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> for the worship of Asherah on every hill and under every shady tree. </span><span class="v12_17_11"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.11" class="v12_17_11">11</span>They offered sacrifices at the shrines,<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.11!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> just as the foreign nations had done before the <span class="nd">Lord</span> forced them out of Israel. They did sinful things that made the <span class="nd">Lord</span> very angry.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_12"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.12" class="v12_17_12">12</span>Even though the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had commanded the Israelites not to worship idols,<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.12!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> they did it anyway. </span><span class="v12_17_13"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.13" class="v12_17_13">13</span>So the <span class="nd">Lord</span> made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: “I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_14"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.14" class="v12_17_14">14</span>But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span> their God. </span><span class="v12_17_15"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.15" class="v12_17_15">15</span>They ignored the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_16"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.16" class="v12_17_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The people of Israel disobeyed all the commands of the <span class="nd">Lord</span> their God. They made two gold statues of calves and set up a sacred pole for Asherah; they also worshiped the stars and the god Baal. </span><span class="v12_17_17"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.17" class="v12_17_17">17</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.17!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> They used magic and witchcraft and even sacrificed their own children. The Israelites were determined to do whatever the <span class="nd">Lord</span> hated. </span><span class="v12_17_18"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.18" class="v12_17_18">18</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> became so furious with the people of Israel that he allowed them to be carried away as prisoners.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_18">Only the people living in Judah were left, </span><span class="v12_17_19"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.19" class="v12_17_19">19</span>but they also disobeyed the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s commands and acted like the Israelites. </span><span class="v12_17_20"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.20" class="v12_17_20">20</span>So the <span class="nd">Lord</span> turned his back on everyone in Israel and let them be punished and defeated until no one was left.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_21"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.21" class="v12_17_21">21</span>Earlier, when the <span class="nd">Lord</span> took the northern tribes away from David's family,<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.21!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the people living in northern Israel chose Jeroboam son of Nebat as their king. Jeroboam caused the Israelites to sin and to stop worshiping the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v12_17_22"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.22" class="v12_17_22">22</span>The people kept on sinning like Jeroboam, </span><span class="v12_17_23"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.23" class="v12_17_23">23</span>until the <span class="nd">Lord</span> got rid of them, just as he had warned his servants the prophets.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_23">That's why the people of Israel were taken away as prisoners to Assyria, and that's where they remained.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Foreigners Are Resettled in Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_24"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.24" class="v12_17_24">24</span>The king of Assyria took people who were living in the cities of Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and forced them to move to Israel. They took over the towns where the Israelites had lived, including the capital city of Samaria.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_25"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.25" class="v12_17_25">25</span>At first these people did not worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, so he sent lions to attack them, and the lions killed some of them. </span><span class="v12_17_26"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.26" class="v12_17_26">26</span>A messenger told the king of Assyria, “The people you moved to Israel don't know how to worship the god of that country. So he sent lions that have attacked and killed some of them.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_27"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.27" class="v12_17_27">27</span>The king replied, “Get one of the Israelite priests we brought here and send him back to Israel. He can live there and teach them about the god of that country.” </span><span class="v12_17_28"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.28" class="v12_17_28">28</span>One of the Israelite priests was chosen to go back to Israel. He lived in Bethel and taught the people how to worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_29"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.29" class="v12_17_29">29</span>But in towns all over Israel, the different groups of people made statues of their own gods, then they placed these idols in local Israelite<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.29!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> shrines. </span><span class="v12_17_30"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.30" class="v12_17_30">30</span>The people from Babylonia made the god Succoth-Benoth; those from Cuthah made the god Nergal; those from Hamath made Ashima; </span><span class="v12_17_31"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.31" class="v12_17_31">31</span>those from Avva made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people from Sepharvaim sacrificed their children to their own gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. </span><span class="v12_17_32"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.32-2Kgs.17.33" class="v12_17_32">32-33</span>They worshiped their own gods, just as they had before they were taken away to Israel. They also worshiped the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, but they chose their own people to be priests at the shrines. </span><span class="v12_17_34"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.34" class="v12_17_34">34</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.34!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Everyone followed their old customs. None of them worshiped only the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and they refused to obey the laws and commands that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had given to the descendants of Jacob, the man he named Israel. </span><span class="v12_17_35"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.35" class="v12_17_35">35</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.35!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> At the time when the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had made his solemn agreement with the people of Israel, he told them:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v12_17_35">Do not worship any other gods! Do not bow down to them or offer them a sacrifice. </span><span class="v12_17_36"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.36" class="v12_17_36">36</span><a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.17.36!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Worship only me! I am the one who rescued you from Egypt with my mighty power. Bow down to me and offer sacrifices. </span><span class="v12_17_37"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.37" class="v12_17_37">37</span>Never worship any other god, always obey my laws and teachings, </span><span class="v12_17_38"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.38" class="v12_17_38">38</span>and remember the solemn agreement between us.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v12_17_38">I will say it again: Do not worship any god </span><span class="v12_17_39"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.39" class="v12_17_39">39</span>except me. I am the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God, and I will rescue you from all your enemies.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_17_40"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.40" class="v12_17_40">40</span>But the people living in Israel ignored that command and kept on following their old customs. </span><span class="v12_17_41"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.17.41" class="v12_17_41">41</span>They did worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, but they also worshiped their own idols. Their descendants did the same thing.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">King Shalmaneser of Assyria: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The son of Tiglath Pileser, who ruled Assyria from 727 to 722 <char style="sc">b.c.</char></char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.6 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">The Assyrian king: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Probably Sargon, Shalmaneser's successor. Shalmaneser died after the city of Samaria was captured (722 <char style="sc">b.c.</char>) but before the people were taken away as prisoners (720 <char style="sc">b.c.</char>). Sargon ruled Assyria from 721 to 705 <char style="sc">b.c.</char></char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.10 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">sacred poles: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 13.6,7.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.11 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">shrines: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 12.3.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.12 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the <char style="nd">Lord</char> … idols: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See Exodus 20.4,5.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.21 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">when the <char style="nd">Lord</char> … family: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 1 Kings 11.29-39.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">17.29 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Israelite: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew text has “Samaritan,” which is a later word to describe the people who lived in northern Israel at this time.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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