² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses 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 ^(A)since the days of ^(B)Esarhaddon king of Assyria ^(C)who brought us here.”

³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(A)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (A)And the king of Assyria brought people from ^(B)Babylon, Cuthah, ^(C)Avva, ^(D)Hamath, and ^(E)Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

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.

False Prophets and Teachers

2 But ^(A)false prophets also arose among the people, ^(B)just as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^(C)secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^(D)who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^(E)will be blasphemed.

⁸ Just as ^(A)Jannes and Jambres ^(B)opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, ^(C)men corrupted in mind and ^(D)disqualified regarding the faith.

^4 (A)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(B)slipped in to spy out ^(C)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(D)so that they might bring us into slavery—

¹³ For such men are ^(A)false apostles, ^(B)deceitful workmen, ^(C)disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^(D)an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^(E)servants of righteousness. ^(F)Their end will correspond to their deeds.