2 Kings 17:7–18

Israelites Punished for Sin

⁷All these things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of the king of Egypt, but the Israelites had honored other gods. ⁸They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them, ⁹secretly sinning against the Lord their God. They built places to worship gods in all their cities, from the watchtower to the strong, walled city. ¹⁰They put up stone pillars to gods and Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹The Israelites burned incense everywhere gods were worshiped, just as the nations who lived there before them had done, whom the Lord had forced out of the land. The Israelites did wicked things that made the Lord angry. ¹²They served idols when the Lord had said, “You must not do this.” ¹³The Lord used every prophet and seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, “Stop your evil ways and obey my commands and laws. Follow all the teachings that I commanded your ancestors, the teachings that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴But the people would not listen. They were stubborn, just as their ancestors had been who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵They rejected the Lord’s laws and the agreement he had made with their ancestors. And they refused to listen to his warnings. They worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves. They did what the nations around them did, which the Lord had warned them not to do.

¹⁶The people rejected all the commands of the Lord their God. They molded statues of two calves, and they made an Asherah idol. They worshiped all the stars of the sky and served Baal. ¹⁷They made their sons and daughters pass through fire and tried to find out the future by magic and witchcraft. They always chose to do what the Lord said was wrong, which made him angry. ¹⁸Because he was very angry with the people of Israel, he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.