2 Kings 17:7–18

Why Israel Fell

⁷Now ^athis came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^bwho had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ^cand they had ¹feared other gods

⁸and ^awalked in the ¹customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs ^bof the kings of Israel which they had ²introduced.

⁹The sons of Israel ¹did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from ^awatchtower to fortified city.

^10aThey set for themselves sacred pillars and ^1bAsherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

¹¹and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord.

¹²They served idols, ^aconcerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

¹³Yet the ^aLord warned Israel and Judah ^bthrough all His prophets and ^cevery seer, saying, “^dTurn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.”

¹⁴However, they did not listen, but ^astiffened their neck ¹like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.

^15aThey rejected His statutes and ^bHis covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And ^cthey followed vanity and ^dbecame vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the ^eLord had commanded them not to do like them.

¹⁶They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even ^atwo calves, and ^bmade an ¹Asherah and ^cworshiped all the host of heaven and ^dserved Baal.

¹⁷Then ^athey made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and ^bpracticed divination and enchantments, and ^csold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him.

¹⁸So the Lord was very angry with Israel and ^aremoved them from His ¹sight; ^bnone was left except the tribe of Judah.