29-31 But each people that Assyria had settled went ahead anyway making its own gods and setting them up in the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that the citizens of Samaria had left behind—a local custom-made god for each people:

for Babylon, Succoth Benoth;

for Cuthah, Nergal;

for Hamath, Ashima;

for Avva, Nibhaz and Tartak;

for Sepharvaim, Adrammelech and Anammelech (people burned their children in sacrificial offerings to these gods!).

32-33 They honored and worshiped God, but not exclusively—they also appointed all sorts of priests, regardless of qualification, to conduct a variety of rites at the local fertility shrines. They honored and worshiped God, but they also kept up their devotions to the old gods of the places they had come from.

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