2 Kings 17:16
And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
The verse describes a complete forsaking of all the commandments of God for idolatry, expressed in making molten images in the form of two calves, in making a grove or sacred pole, in worshiping all the host of heaven as the heavenly bodies, and in serving Baal.
That turning was the act of both kings and people together in rebellion against God.
It was a breaking of God's covenant and a rejection of His law and ways.
It was a choosing instead of human and heathen and idolatrous practices.
That rejection of God's ways for the practices of others was the beginning of Israel's downfall.
Though God repeatedly called them to repent through warnings given by the prophets, they persistently refused to repent.
Therefore, in keeping with the prophetic warnings, the Lord judged them by afflicting them and delivering them into the hands of their enemies to be carried away captive to Assyria.
Their land was plundered, and they were left subject and a prey to the nations whose practices they had chosen.