2 Kings 17:8–20

⁸They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites,^c which the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹The Israelites^d secretly did things that were not right against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city. ¹⁰They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh. ¹²They served idols of which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing!” ¹³Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, with every seer saying, “Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors,^e which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors^f who did not believe in Yahweh their God. ¹⁵They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he made^g with their ancestors,^h and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and went after all the nations which were all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did. ¹⁶They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal. ¹⁷They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. ¹⁸So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced, ²⁰so Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel and punished them, and he gave them into the hand of the plunderers until he banished them from his presence.