2 Kings 17:7-9

New Catholic Bible

⁷ This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. They had revered other gods ⁸ and they had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before them and that the kings of Israel had introduced.

⁹ The people of Israel secretly did what was wrong against the Lord, their God. They built high places for themselves in all of their cities, whether it be a simple watchtower or fortified city.