2 Kings 17

In the twelfth year that Ahaz was king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel. He ruled in Samaria for nine years.

1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

NoteSince Solomon's death the land had been two kingdoms: Israel in the north, capital Samaria, and Judah in the south, capital Jerusalem. Each kingdom's records dated a reign by the year of the other kingdom's king, which is why Hoshea's accession is fixed by Ahaz's twelfth year.

2He did what the LORD said was evil, but not as badly as the kings of Israel who came before him.

2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

Note"Did what the LORD said was evil" is the book's standard verdict formula, applied to every king of the north; it is a summary judgment on the reign, not a description of a particular act.

3Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, attacked him. Hoshea gave in and became his subject, and he paid him tribute.

3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.

NoteAssyria was the great military empire of the day, centered on the upper Tigris in what is now northern Iraq. To "become his subject" and pay tribute meant a defeated king kept his throne and his capital but sent a fixed payment every year and gave up an independent foreign policy.

4Later the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was plotting against him. Hoshea had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had stopped sending the yearly payment. So the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison in chains.

4And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

NoteNo Egyptian king called So is otherwise known for certain. The name may be a shortened royal name, the city of Sais in the Nile delta, or a title; scholars disagree.

5Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land. He marched up to Samaria and surrounded the city for three years.

5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea's reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, by the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

NoteHalah, Gozan and the Habor river lie in northern Mesopotamia, hundreds of miles from Israel; the cities of the Medes are further east still, on the Iranian plateau. Assyria's standard policy was to deport a conquered population and scatter it far from home so it could not organize a revolt. This fall of Samaria is usually dated to 722 BC.

7All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt, out from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods,

7For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8and they lived by the customs of the nations the LORD had driven out ahead of them, and by the practices the kings of Israel had introduced.

8And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. In every one of their towns they built worship sites on hills, called high places, from the smallest watchtower to the walled city.

9And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

NoteA "high place" was an open-air shrine, often on raised ground, with an altar and sacred stones or trees. Such shrines were used both for Canaanite gods and for worship of the LORD outside Jerusalem. "From the watchtower to the walled city" is an idiom meaning everywhere, from the smallest lookout post to the largest fortified town.

10They set up sacred stone pillars and wooden poles for the goddess Asherah on every high hill and under every green tree.

10And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

NoteThe pillars were upright standing stones set up to mark a place as sacred. Asherah was a Canaanite mother goddess; the "pole" was a wooden object, probably a stylised tree or trunk, that stood for her at a shrine.

11There at all those high places they burned incense, just like the nations the LORD had driven out ahead of them. They did wicked things that made the LORD angry.

11And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

12They served idols, even though the LORD had told them, "You must not do this."

12For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

13Still the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn away from your evil ways. Keep my commands and my rules, following the whole law I gave your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets."

13Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

NoteA "seer" was an older word for a prophet, literally one who sees, receiving messages as visions. The Hebrew Bible itself notes elsewhere that the word for prophet replaced it over time.

14But they would not listen. They were stubborn, just as their ancestors had been, who did not trust the LORD their God.

14Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

Note"Hardened their necks" is a farming image: an ox that stiffens its neck against the yoke and refuses to be steered.

15They rejected his rules, and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They chased after worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They copied the nations around them, though the LORD had ordered them not to.

15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "worthless" means a breath or puff of vapor, the word translated "vanity" in Ecclesiastes. The sentence is a deliberate play on words: they chased after emptiness and turned into it.

16They abandoned all the commands of the LORD their God. They made two metal idols shaped like calves, and a pole for Asherah. They bowed down to all the stars and powers of the sky, and they served the god Baal.

16And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

NoteThe two metal calves are the images Jeroboam set up at Bethel and Dan as alternatives to the temple in Jerusalem. "All the stars and powers of the sky" translates "the host of heaven": the sun, moon, planets and stars regarded as divine beings. Baal, whose name means "lord" or "owner", was the Canaanite storm and fertility god.

17They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire as offerings. They practiced fortune-telling and magic. They gave themselves over to doing what the LORD said was evil, and it made him angry.

17And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase is literally to "make pass over into the fire". Whether it always means burning a child to death or sometimes a dedication rite involving fire is disputed. Divination meant reading omens (animal livers, bird flight, dreams) to learn the future; both practices were forbidden in Israelite law.

18So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

Note"Removed them from his presence" is an idiom for driving people out of his sight and out of the land. "Judah" here is the whole southern kingdom, named for its dominant tribe.

19Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God either. They lived by the customs that Israel had started.

19Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20So the LORD turned away from all the descendants of Israel. He brought trouble on them and handed them over to raiders, until he had thrown them out of his presence.

20And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21When the LORD tore Israel away from the family of David, the people made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam pulled Israel away from following the LORD and led them into a great sin.

21For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

NoteThis looks back to the division of the kingdom after Solomon's death, when the northern tribes rejected his son Rehoboam and made Jeroboam king instead.

22The Israelites kept doing all the sins Jeroboam had done, and they never turned away from them,

22For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

23until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had said through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

23Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Note"To this day" means the day of the writer, generations after the deportation, not the reader's day.

24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

24And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

NoteDeporting one conquered people and importing another was Assyrian standard practice, designed to break local loyalties. Cuthah and Babylon were Mesopotamian cities; Hamath was in Syria; Ava and Sepharvaim are less certainly located. The mixed population of these towns is the ancestry later writers attributed to the Samaritans.

25When these settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD. So the LORD sent lions among them, and the lions killed some of them.

25And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

NoteIt was widely assumed in the ancient world that each territory had its own god with its own required rites, and that a newcomer who did not perform them was in danger. The settlers read the lion attacks that way.

26So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations you moved and settled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the God of that land requires. That is why he has sent lions among them, and the lions are killing them, because they do not know what the God of the land requires."

26Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

Note"What the God of that land requires" translates a Hebrew word meaning the customary rule or correct procedure, the proper way of doing things, rather than a body of belief.

27Then the king of Assyria gave this order: "Send back one of the priests you took away from there. Let him go and live there and teach the people what the God of the land requires."

27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

28So one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel. He taught the settlers how they should worship the LORD.

28Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

NoteBethel, about twelve miles north of Jerusalem, was one of the two royal shrines of the northern kingdom and its chief sanctuary.

29Even so, each nation made gods of its own and set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had built on the high places. Each nation did this in the towns where they lived.

29Howbeit 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 wherein they dwelt.

Note"The people of Samaria" here simply means the former inhabitants of the region, the deported Israelites, not the later Samaritan community.

30The men from Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men from Cuth made Nergal, the men from Hamath made Ashima,

30And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

NoteNergal was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld and of plague, the patron deity of Cuthah. Succoth-benoth and Ashima cannot now be identified with confidence; the names may be garbled forms of Babylonian and Syrian divine names.

31the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire as offerings to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

31And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

NoteNibhaz and Tartak are unknown outside this verse. Adrammelech and Anammelech both end in an element meaning "king", a common part of divine names in the region.

32So they worshiped the LORD, and they also appointed priests for themselves from among all sorts of their own people. These priests offered sacrifices for them in the shrines on the high places.

32So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

NoteThe Hebrew says the priests were taken "from among all of them": that is, ordinary men chosen at random rather than men from the priestly family line, which is how Israelite law restricted the office. The same phrase is used of Jeroboam's priests.

33They worshiped the LORD and served their own gods at the same time, following the customs of the nations they had been brought from.

33They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

NoteAdding the LORD to an existing set of gods, rather than replacing them, was normal practice in the ancient world; the writer treats it as a failure rather than a compromise.

34To this day they keep on doing what they did before. They do not worship the LORD, and they do not follow the rules, the practices, the law, or the command that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, the man he named Israel.

34Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

NoteJacob was renamed Israel in Genesis; the nation traces its name and descent to him.

35The LORD had made a covenant, a binding agreement, with them, and had ordered them: "Do not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

35With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

NoteA covenant was a formal binding agreement with stated obligations on both sides, drawn up on the model of treaties between a great king and a subject people.

36Worship only the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with great power and a strong outstretched arm. Bow down to him, and offer your sacrifices to him.

36But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

Note"A strong outstretched arm" is a set phrase from the exodus story for power actually in use, the picture is of an arm raised to strike.

37Always be careful to obey the rules, the practices, the law, and the command that he wrote out for you. Do not worship other gods.

37And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

38Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods.

38And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

39Worship the LORD your God, and he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies."

39But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

40But they would not listen. They kept doing what they had done before.

40Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

41So these nations worshiped the LORD and served their carved idols at the same time. Their children and their grandchildren still do what their ancestors did, right up to today.

41So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.