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.
32. They also worshiped the Lord. But they chose priests for the places where false gods were worshiped. The priests were chosen from among themselves. And they made sacrifices for the people.
33. The people worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods. They served their gods as the nations did from which they had been brought.
34. Even today they do as they did in the past. They do not worship the Lord. They do not obey his rules and commands. They do not obey the teachings or the commands of the Lord. He gave these commands to the children of Jacob, whom the Lord had named Israel.