² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”^(A)

³⁷ As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.^(A)

Assyria Resettles Samaria

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel; they took possession of Samaria and settled in its cities.^(A)

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

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

False Prophets and Their Punishment

2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.^{(A) 2} Even so, many will follow their debaucheries, and because of these teachers^[a] the way of truth will be maligned.