In the ninth year of Hoshea&#8217;s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel<n id="1" /> to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">This happened because the Israelites sinned against the <sc>Lordsc> their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of<n id="1" /> Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped<n id="2" /> other gods;

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey.<n id="1" /> They paid allegiance to<n id="2" /> worthless idols, and so became worthless to the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" /> They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s command.<n id="4" />

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky<n id="1" /> and worshiped<n id="2" /> them.

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,<n id="1" /> provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.&#8221;