II Kings 17 The King of Assyria Brings Many Strangers to Samaria

 II Kings 17

The King of Assyria Brings Many Strangers to Samaria

24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babel, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they took Samaria for an inheritance, and dwelt in its cities.

25 And it came to pass, when they first dwelt there, that they feared not the LORD: and the LORD sent lions among them, and they slew some of them.

26 And they spake unto the king of Assyria, saying, The nation whom thou hast brought away, and made to dwell in Samaria, knoweth not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they are slaying them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Take thither one of the priests whom we brought away from thence: and let them go and dwell there, and he will teach them the manner of the God of the land.

28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

29 But every nation made its gods, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt.

30 And the people of Babel made Succoth-benoth; and the people of Cuthah made Nergal; and the people of Hamath made Ashima.

31 And the Avvites made Nibah and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Asdram-melech and Anam-melech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 So they feared the Lord: and from the lowest of the low they made priests of the high places, who ministered in the houses of the high places. 

33 So they feared the Lord and served their gods, according to the custom of the nations from which they had been carried away. 

34 To this day they do according to their former customs: they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow his statutes, or his ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 

35 But the Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. 

36 But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice.

 37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do always, and you shall not fear other gods. 

38 And you shall not forget the covenant which I have made with you, nor shall you fear other gods. 

39 But you shall fear the Lord your God, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 

40 But they would not listen; they did according to their former custom. 

41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their carved images; their children also, and their children's children, as their fathers did, so do they to this day.