Nibhaz

Nibhaz (meaning budding or prophesying) was an idol worshipped by the Avites, one of the peoples transplanted by the Assyrians into Samaria after the deportation of the northern tribes of Israel (2 Kings 17:31). The settlers brought their own gods with them and worshipped them in their new land alongside some fear of the God of Israel, creating the syncretistic religion that characterized the Samaritans. The exact nature of Nibhaz and its cult is unknown; the name may be a Hebrew distortion of a foreign deity's name.