26 So they sent word to the king of As·syrʹi·a, saying: “The nations that you have taken into exile and then settled in the cities of Sa·marʹi·a have not known the religion* of the God* of the land, so that he keeps sending lions among them;+ and, look! they are putting them to death, inasmuch as there are none knowing the religion of the God of the land.”