2 Kings 17:17-31

17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight and angered him.

18Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained.

19Even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to the customs Israel had practiced.

20So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, punished them, and handed them over to plunderers until he had banished them from his presence.

21When the Lord tore Israel from the house of David, Israel made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam led Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit grave sin.

22The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam committed and did not turn away from them.

23Finally, the Lord removed Israel from his presence just as he had declared through all his servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland to this very day.

24Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

25When they first lived there, they did not fear the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26The settlers said to the king of Assyria, “The nations that you have deported and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them that are killing them because the people don’t know the requirements of the god of the land.”

27Then the king of Assyria issued a command: “Send back one of the priests you deported. Have him go and live there so he can teach them the requirements of the god of the land.”

28So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear the Lord.

29But the people of each nation were still making their own gods in the cities where they lived and putting them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made.

30The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.