²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him^[a] go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in ^(A)Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them ^(B)in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. ³⁰ The men of ^(C)Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(D)burned their children in the fire to ^(E)Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of ^(F)Sepharvaim. ^32 (G)They also feared the Lord ^(H)and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of ^(I)the high places. ³³ So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.