²⁴The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites,^j so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities. ²⁵It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them.^k ²⁶So they said to the king of Assyria, “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land.” ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land.” ²⁸So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh.

²⁹Yet every nation was making their^l gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they were living.

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Footnotes

jLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
kLeviticus 26:22 warns that non-belief will result in attacks from wild animals.
lHebrew “his”