nkjv 2Kings:17:12-34 SEEK
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for they served idols ,
of which the LORD had said to them , "
You shall not do this thing ."
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Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah ,
by all of His prophets ,
every seer ,
saying , "
Turn from your evil ways ,
and keep My commandments and My statutes ,
according to all the law which I commanded your fathers ,
and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets ."
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Nevertheless they would not hear ,
but stiffened their necks ,
like the necks of their fathers ,
who did not believe in the LORD their God .
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And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers ,
and His testimonies which He had testified against them ;
they followed idols ,
became idolaters ,
and went after the nations who were all around them ,
concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them .
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So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God ,
made for themselves a molded image and two calves ,
made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven ,
and served Baal .
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And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire ,
practiced witchcraft and soothsaying ,
and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD ,
to provoke Him to anger .
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Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel ,
and removed them from His sight ;
there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone .
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Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God ,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made .
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And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel ,
afflicted them ,
and delivered them into the hand of plunderers ,
until He had cast them from His sight .
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For He tore Israel from the house of David ,
and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king .
Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD ,
and made them commit a great sin .
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For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did ;
they did not depart from them ,
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until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight ,
as He had said by all His servants the prophets .
So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria ,
as it is to this day .
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Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon ,
Cuthah ,
Ava ,
Hamath ,
and from Sepharvaim ,
and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel ;
and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities .
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And it was so ,
at the beginning of their dwelling there ,
that they did not fear the LORD ;
therefore the LORD sent lions among them ,
which killed some of them .
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So they spoke to the king of Assyria ,
saying , "
The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land ;
therefore He has sent lions among them ,
and indeed ,
they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land ."
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Then the king of Assyria commanded ,
saying , "
Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there ;
let him go and dwell there ,
and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land ."
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Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel ,
and taught them how they should fear the LORD .
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However every nation continued to make gods of its own ,
and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made ,
every nation in the cities where they dwelt .
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The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth ,
the men of Cuth made Nergal ,
the men of Hamath made Ashima ,
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and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak ;
and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech ,
the gods of Sepharvaim .
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So they feared the LORD ,
and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places ,
who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places .
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They feared the LORD ,
yet served their own gods--according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away .
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To this day they continue practicing the former rituals ;
they do not fear the LORD ,
nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances ,
or the law and commandment which the LORD had commanded the children of Jacob ,
whom He named Israel ,