2 Kings 17:17-31

17Then 1they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and they 2practiced divination and interpreting omens, and 3gave themselves over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 18So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He 4removed them from His 5sight; 6no one was left except the tribe of Judah.

197Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God either, but they 89followed the 10customs 11which Israel had 12introduced. 20So the Lord rejected all the 13descendants of Israel and afflicted them and 14handed them over to plunderers, until He had cast them 15out of His sight.

21When 16He had torn Israel from the house of David, 17they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then 18Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and misled them into a great sin. 22And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed; they did not desist from them 2319until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, 20just as He had spoken through all His servants the prophets. 21So Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

2422Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, 2324Avva, 25Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25And at the beginning of their living there, they 26did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them that were killing some of them. 26So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have taken into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land; so He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them because they do not know the custom of the God of the land.”

27Then the king of Assyria issued commands, saying, “Take one of the priests there whom you led into 27exile, and have 28him go and live there; and have him teach them the custom of the God of the land.” 28So one of the priests whom they had led into exile from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they were to fear the Lord.

29But every nation was still making gods of its own, and they put them 29in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. 3030The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and 31the Sepharvites were burning their children in the fire to 32Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of 33Sepharvaim.