The Older Sister, Samaria

^3 (A)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea ^(B)became his vassal, and paid him tribute money.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(A)Tiglath-Pileser^[a] king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.”

^19 (A)Pul^[a] king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his ^[b]hand might be with him to ^(B)strengthen the kingdom under his control.

²⁸ You also played the harlot with the ^(A)Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.

⁷ For ^(A)so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ^(B)feared other gods, ⁸ and ^(C)had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹ Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ^[a]high places in all their cities, ^(D)from watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (E)They set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^(F)wooden images^{[b] (G)}on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹² for they served idols, ^(H)of which the Lord had said to them, ^(I)“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^(J)prophets, ^(K)every seer, saying, ^(L)“Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^(M)stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^(N)did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ And they ^(O)rejected His statutes ^(P)and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^(Q)idols, ^(R)became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^(S)not do like them. ¹⁶ So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^(T)made for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^(U)made a wooden image and worshiped all the ^(V)host of heaven, ^(W)and served Baal. ^17 (X)And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^(Y)practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^(Z)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^(AA)but the tribe of Judah alone.