[Verse 1] Hoshea paid tribute, then trusted in Egypt; Assyria encircled Samaria's wall. Three years the siege held the northern kingdom; At last the proud city and monarchy fell. Families were scattered through Halah and Habor, Cities of Medes took the tribes far away. [Refrain] Samaria carried away, Not for weakness of stone or the strength of a blade, But for serving the gods of the nations, For rejecting the warnings the prophets had made. Samaria carried away, The covenant broken through generation and day. [Verse 2] They walked in the statutes of peoples cast out, Built high places under each spreading tree. They burned sons and daughters, sought omens and spirits, Sold themselves wholly to iniquity. The Lord testified through seer after seer: "Turn from your evil and keep the command." They hardened their necks like the fathers before them, Till only Judah remained in the land. [Bridge] Strangers were settled in emptied-out cities, Learning a fear mixed with gods of their own. A divided worship inherited ruins; Syncretic altars stood where Israel had sown. [Final Refrain] Samaria carried away, A kingdom dissolved by the choices it made. Exile began long before chains and roads; It began when the heart chose another lord.