rsv 2Kings:17:12-34 SEEK
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and they served idols ,
of which the LORD had said to them , "
You shall not do this ."
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Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer ,
saying , "
Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes ,
in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers ,
and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets ."
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But they would not listen ,
but were stubborn ,
as their fathers had been ,
who did not believe in the LORD their God .
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They despised his statutes ,
and his covenant that he made with their fathers ,
and the warnings which he gave them .
They went after false idols ,
and became false ,
and they followed the nations that were round about them ,
concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them .
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And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God ,
and made for themselves molten images of two calves ;
and they made an Ashe '
rah ,
and worshiped all the host of heaven ,
and served Ba '
al .
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And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings ,
and used divination and sorcery ,
and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD ,
provoking him to anger .
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Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel ,
and removed them out of his sight ;
none was left but the tribe of Judah only .
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Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God ,
but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced .
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And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel ,
and afflicted them ,
and gave them into the hand of spoilers ,
until he had cast them out of his sight .
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When he had torn Israel from the house of David they made Jerobo '
am the son of Nebat king .
And Jerobo '
am drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin .
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The people of Israel walked in all the sins which Jerobo '
am did ;
they did not depart from them ,
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until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight ,
as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets .
So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day .
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And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon ,
Cuthah ,
Avva ,
Hamath ,
and Sephar-va '
im ,
and placed them in the cities of Sama '
ria instead of the people of Israel ;
and they took possession of Sama '
ria ,
and dwelt in its cities .
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And at the beginning of their dwelling there ,
they did not fear the LORD ;
therefore the LORD sent lions among them ,
which killed some of them .
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So the king of Assyria was told , "
The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Sama '
ria do not know the law of the god of the land ;
therefore he has sent lions among them ,
and behold ,
they are killing them ,
because they do not know the law of the god of the land ."
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Then the king of Assyria commanded , "
Send there one of the priests whom you carried away thence ;
and let him go and dwell there ,
and teach them the law of the god of the land ."
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So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Sama '
ria came and dwelt in Bethel ,
and taught them how they should fear the LORD .
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But every nation still made gods of its own ,
and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made ,
every nation in the cities in which they dwelt ;
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the men of Babylon made Suc '
coth-be '
noth ,
the men of Cuth made Nergal ,
the men of Hamath made Ashi '
ma ,
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and the Av '
vites made Nibhaz and Tartak ;
and the Sephar '
vites burned their children in the fire to Adram '
melech and Anam '
melech ,
the gods of Sephar-va '
im .
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They also feared the LORD ,
and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places ,
who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places .
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So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods ,
after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away .
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To this day they do according to the former manner .
They do not fear the LORD ,
and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob ,
whom he named Israel .