20. So the Lord rejected all the people of Israel. He punished them and let people destroy them. He threw them out of his presence.
21. The Lord separated them from the family of David. And the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam led the Israelites away from following the Lord. He caused them to sin greatly.
22. So they continued to do all the sins Jeroboam did. They did not stop doing these sins
23. until the Lord removed the people from his presence. This was just as he had said he would do. He had said this through all his servants the prophets. So the Israelites were taken out of their land to Assyria. And they have been there to this day.
24. The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim. He put them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. These people took over Samaria and lived in the cities.
25. At first they did not worship the Lord. So he sent lions among them. The lions killed some of them.
26. The king of Assyria was told this. It was said, “You sent foreigners into the cities of Samaria. They do not know the law of the god of the land. This is why that land’s god has sent lions among them. The lions are killing them because they don’t know what the god wants.”
27. Then the king of Assyria gave a command. He said, “You took Samaria’s priests away. Send back one of the priests to live there. Let him teach them what the god wants.”
28. So one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria returned. He came to live in Bethel. And he taught the people how to worship the Lord.
29. But each nation made gods of its own. They put them in the cities where they lived. They put them in the temples where false gods were worshiped. These temples had been made by the Samaritans.
30. The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth their god. The men from Cuthah worshiped Nergal. The men of Hamath worshiped Ashima.
31. The Avvites worshiped Nibhaz and Tartak. And the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire. They sacrificed them to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.