2 Kings 18:9-12

9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ¹Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it,

10 and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ²Halah, and on the ³Habor, ⁴the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

2 Kings 18:9-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 18

This chapter begins with the good reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, the reformation he made in the kingdom, and the prosperity that attended him when Israel was carried captive, 2Ki 18:1-12 and gives an account of the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Assyria, and of the distress Hezekiah was in, and the hard measures he was obliged to submit unto, 2Ki 18:13-18 and of the reviling and blasphemous speech of Rabshakeh, one of the generals of the king of Assyria, urging the Jews to a revolt from their king, 2Ki 18:19-37.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 9-12, see 2 Kings 17:3-7
• 2. 2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26
• 3. 2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26
• 4. 2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26