2 Kings 17:24-41

The Voice

²⁴ Assyria’s king transported men from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim, and he made them live in the Samaritan towns and cities where the Israelites had lived. Samaria now belonged to these new inhabitants of the towns and cities. ²⁵ When they first began living in Samaria, the foreigners lacked any fear of the Eternal One. So He caused lions to invade their ignorant community and kill some of the people. ²⁶ One of them contacted Assyria’s king.

²⁸ Ironically a priest who was exiled by God for not following His ways was brought back to Samaria and became responsible for teaching the new inhabitants how to revere the Eternal. He stayed at Bethel.

²⁹ Even after all of this, all the nations were still crafting their own gods and placing them in the high places built by the Samaritans, each nation in the cities where it settled. ³⁰ The Babylonian men crafted Succoth-benoth, the Cuth men crafted Nergal, the Hamath men crafted Ashima, ³¹ the Avvites crafted Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites gave their own children as burnt sacrifices to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. ³² They also greatly feared the Eternal One and nominated some of their own men to act as priests at the high places, interceding for them at the high places’ temples. ³³ They feared Him while at the same time honoring the gods of the nations from where they had been exiled.

³⁴ Still today, they honor the earlier traditions of the wicked people before them, and they fail to revere the Eternal properly. They do not honor the sacred laws and judgments that He gave to the descendants of Jacob (whom He called Israel). ³⁵ He entered into a sacred covenant with the new Samaritans and gave them the same sacred commands to follow.

⁴⁰ But they did not listen to the Lord’s message. Instead they did just as they had done when they lived in their own nations. ⁴¹ They feared the Eternal One while at the same time serving their own idols. Their descendants have done the same ever since.