So they feared the LORD, and made for themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast for the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt.
So these nations feared the LORD, and served their sculptured images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they until this day.
And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the deeds that he had done in Bethel.
Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as you do; and we have sacrificed unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, who brought us up to here.