II Kings 17:6-10

"In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."

"For 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 Pharoah king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods."

"And 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."

"Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city."

"They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree."

(God's just judgment poured out against the people of Israel here. They had continuously sinned from generation to generation. God is patient and gracious, but He is not lax in passing judgment.)