The Divided Kingdom

He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.

Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”

So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.

King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the LORD.

As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

In the twelfth year of the reign of Ahaz over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria nine years.

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.

Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods

and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel.

The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities.

They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger.

They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.”

Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God.

They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.

They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,