2 Kings 17:27

27 Then the king of Assyria gave an order. He said, "Get one of the priests you captured from Samaria. Send him back to live there. Have him teach the people what the god of that land requires."

2 Kings 17:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:27

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying
Gave the following orders and directions:

carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence;
for they carried away all the people of every class, civil and religious:

and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of
the God of the land;
it is in the plural number, "let them go" {o}; there might be more priests than one ordered, or, however, others, to attend and assist him in his work; the Jews say ^F16, two were sent to circumcise them, and teach them the book of the law; and they give their names, Dosthai, or Dosithaeus, and Zachariah; and Josephus ^F17 says, the people desired that priests might be sent to them of the captives.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (wbvyw wkly) "eant et sedeant", Montanus.
F16 Pirke Eliezer, c. 38.
F17 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 3.

2 Kings 17:27 In-Context

25 When they first lived there, they didn't worship the Lord. So he sent lions among them. And the lions killed some of the people.

26 A report was given to the king of Assyria. He was told, "You forced people to leave their own homes. You settled them in the towns of Samaria. But they don't know what the god of that country requires. So he has sent lions among them. And the lions are killing the people off. That's because the people don't know what that god requires."

27 Then the king of Assyria gave an order. He said, "Get one of the priests you captured from Samaria. Send him back to live there. Have him teach the people what the god of that land requires."

28 So one of the priests went back to live in Bethel. He was one of those who had been forced to leave Samaria. He taught the people there how to worship the Lord.

29 In spite of that, the people from each nation made statues of their own gods. They made them in all of the towns where they had settled. They set up those statues in small temples. The people of Samaria had built the temples at the high places.