4. But later, Hoshea refused to pay the taxes and asked King So of Egypt to help him rebel. When Shalmaneser found out, he arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
5. Shalmaneser invaded Israel and attacked the city of Samaria for three years,
6. before capturing it in the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. The Assyrian king took the Israelites away to Assyria as prisoners. He forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the River Habor in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived.
7. All of this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from Egypt, where they had been slaves. They worshipped foreign gods,
8. followed the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel, and were just as sinful as the Israelite kings.
9. Even worse, the Israelites tried to hide their sins from the Lord their God. They built their own local shrines everywhere in Israel—from small towns to large, walled cities.
32-33. They worshipped their own gods, just as they had before they were taken away to Israel. They also worshipped the Lord, but they chose their own people to be priests at the shrines.
34. Everyone followed their old customs. None of them worshipped only the Lord, and they refused to obey the laws and commands that the Lord had given to the descendants of Jacob, the man he named Israel.
35. At the time when the Lord had made his solemn agreement with the people of Israel, he told them:Do not worship any other gods! Do not bow down to them or offer them a sacrifice.
36. Worship only me! I am the one who rescued you from Egypt with my mighty power. Bow down to me and offer sacrifices.
37. Never worship any other god, always obey my laws and teachings,
38. and remember the solemn agreement between us.I will say it again: do not worship any god
39. except me. I am the Lord your God, and I will rescue you from all your enemies.
40. But the people living in Israel ignored that command and kept on following their old customs.
41. They did worship the Lord, but they also worshipped their own idols. Their descendants did the same thing.