12. and disobeyed the Lord's command not to worship idols.
13. The Lord had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: “Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets.”
14. But they would not obey; they were stubborn like their ancestors, who had not trusted in the Lord their God.
15. They refused to obey his instructions, they did not keep the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they disregarded his warnings. They worshipped worthless idols and became worthless themselves, and they followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying the Lord's command not to imitate them.
16. They broke all the laws of the Lord their God and made two metal bull calves to worship; they also made an image of the goddess Asherah, worshipped the stars, and served the god Baal.
17. They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortune tellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord's sight, and so aroused his anger.
18. The Lord was angry with the Israelites and banished them from his sight, leaving only the kingdom of Judah.
19. But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the Lord their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.
20. The Lord rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.
21. After the Lord had separated Israel from Judah, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam made them abandon the Lord and led them into terrible sins.
22. They followed Jeroboam and continued to practise all the sins he had committed,
23. until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live.
24. The emperor of Assyria took people from the cities of Babylon, Cuth, Ivvah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria, in place of the exiled Israelites. They took possession of these cities and lived there.
25. When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them.
26. The emperor of Assyria was told that the people he had settled in the cities of Samaria did not know the law of the god of that land, and so the god had sent lions, which were killing them.
27. So the emperor commanded: “Send back one of the priests we brought as prisoners; make him go back and live there, in order to teach the people the law of the god of that land.”
28. So an Israelite priest who had been deported from Samaria went and lived in Bethel, where he taught the people how to worship the Lord.