2 Kings 17:7-41

Exile Because of Idolatry

7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, ¹who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods

8 ²and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, ³and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.

9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ⁴from watchtower to fortified city.

10 They set up for themselves ⁵pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger,

12 and they served idols, ⁶of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this."

13 Yet the LORD ⁷warned Israel and Judah ⁸by every prophet ⁹and every seer, saying, ¹⁰"Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."

14 But they would not listen, ¹¹but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

15 They despised his statutes ¹²and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after ¹³false idols ¹⁴and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the ¹⁵LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.

16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of ¹⁶two calves; and they ¹⁷made an Asherah and ¹⁸worshiped all the host of heaven and served ¹⁹Baal.

17 ²⁰And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings^[a] and used ²¹divination and ²²omens and ²³sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ²⁴the tribe of Judah only.

19 ²⁵Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.

20 And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them ²⁶and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21 ²⁷When he had torn Israel from the house of David, ²⁸they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD ²⁹and made them commit great sin.

22 The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them,

23 until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, ³⁰as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. ³¹So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

24 ³²And the king of Assyria brought people from ³³Babylon, Cuthah, ³⁴Avva, ³⁵Hamath, and ³⁶Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26 So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land."

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him^[b] go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land."

28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in ³⁷Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them ³⁸in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.

30 The men of ³⁹Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ⁴⁰burned their children in the fire to ⁴¹Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of ⁴²Sepharvaim.

32 ⁴³They also feared the LORD ⁴⁴and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of ⁴⁵the high places.

33 So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34 To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, ⁴⁶whom he named Israel.

35 The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, ⁴⁷"You shall not fear other gods ⁴⁸or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,

36 but ⁴⁹you shall fear the LORD, ⁵⁰who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and ⁵¹with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.

37 And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, ⁵²you shall always be careful to do. ⁵³You shall not fear other gods,

38 and ⁵⁴you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. ⁵⁵You shall not fear other gods,

39 but ⁵⁶you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."

40 However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

41 ⁵⁷So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children--as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

2 Kings 17:7-41 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 17

This chapter relates the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, and how it came about, 2Ki 17:1-6, the cause of it, their idolatry, which they persisted in, notwithstanding the remonstrances made against it, 2Ki 17:7-23, in whose stead were placed people from different parts, who exercised a mixed religion, partly Heathenish, and partly Israelitish, 2Ki 17:24.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 36; Leviticus 25:38; See Exodus 20:2
• 2. Leviticus 18:3; Deuteronomy 18:9
• 3. ver. 19; 2 Kings 16:3
• 4. 2 Kings 18:8
• 5. See Exodus 23:24
• 6. See Exodus 20:4
• 7. Nehemiah 9:30
• 8. ver. 23
• 9. See 1 Samuel 9:9
• 10. Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 25:5; Jeremiah 35:15
• 11. Deuteronomy 9:6; 2 Chronicles 30:8; [Deuteronomy 31:27; Acts 7:51]
• 12. Deuteronomy 29:25
• 13. Deuteronomy 32:21; [1 Kings 16:13]
• 14. Jeremiah 2:5; Romans 1:21
• 15. Deuteronomy 12:30, 31
• 16. See 1 Kings 12:28
• 17. 1 Kings 14:15, 23; 1 Kings 15:13; 1 Kings 16:33
• 18. 2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 23:5; [Deuteronomy 4:19]
• 19. 2 Kings 11:18; 1 Kings 16:31; 1 Kings 22:53
• 20. 2 Kings 16:3; [Leviticus 18:21; Ezekiel 23:37]
• 21. [Deuteronomy 18:10]
• 22. [Leviticus 19:26]
• 23. See 1 Kings 21:20
• 24. [1 Kings 11:13, 32; 1 Kings 12:20]
• 25. [Jeremiah 3:8]
• 26. Judges 2:14; [2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 15:29]
• 27. 1 Kings 11:11, 31
• 28. 1 Kings 12:20
• 29. See 1 Kings 14:16
• 30. ver. 13
• 31. ver. 6
• 32. Ezra 4:2, 10
• 33. ver. 30
• 34. [2 Kings 18:34]
• 35. See 1 Kings 8:65
• 36. ver. 31; 2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13
• 37. 1 Kings 12:29
• 38. 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:32
• 39. ver. 24
• 40. See ver. 17
• 41. [2 Kings 19:37]
• 42. ver. 24
• 43. [Zephaniah 1:5]
• 44. See 1 Kings 12:31
• 45. ver. 29
• 46. Genesis 32:28; Genesis 35:10; 1 Kings 18:31
• 47. Judges 6:10
• 48. See Exodus 20:5
• 49. Deuteronomy 6:13
• 50. ver. 7
• 51. Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 4:34
• 52. Deuteronomy 5:32
• 53. [See ver. 35 above]
• 54. Deuteronomy 4:23
• 55. [See ver. 35 above]
• 56. [See ver. 36 above]
• 57. [Zephaniah 1:5]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire
• [b]. Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them