Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? ¹  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ²  from my power? ³ 

They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ² 

You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods.

Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹ 

the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, ¹  and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, ²  the gods of Sepharvaim.

Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ¹ 

You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods.

Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ¹ 

They were worshiping ¹  the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

The Lord made an agreement ¹  with them ²  and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of ¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped ²  other gods;

But each of these nations made ¹  its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria ²  had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived.

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry, ¹  for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. ² 

Josiah also got rid of ¹  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ²  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ³  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁴  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

He followed in the footsteps of his father ¹  and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols ²  which his father had worshiped. ³ 

“King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. ¹  He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols. ² 

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴