2 Kings 17:5-23

5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.

Israel Exiled Because of Sin

7 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods
8 and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.
9 The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.
10 They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
11 At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the LORD’s anger.
12 They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said, “You shall not do this.”[a]
13 The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God.
15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
16 They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.
17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.
18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left,
19 and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.
20 Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
21 When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin.
22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them
23 until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

2 Kings 17:5-23 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 39

  • 1. Hosea 13:16
  • 2. ver 20; S 2 Kings 15:29; Isaiah 42:24
  • 3. Isaiah 10:9; Hosea 13:16
  • 4. S Deuteronomy 4:27; S Deuteronomy 24:1; S 2 Kings 15:29; Amos 7:17; Deuteronomy 28:36,64; 2 Kings 18:10-11
  • 5. 1 Chronicles 5:26
  • 6. S Joshua 7:11; Joshua 23:16; Judges 6:10
  • 7. Exodus 14:15-31
  • 8. S Exodus 34:15; S Leviticus 18:3; S Deuteronomy 9:4; Deuteronomy 18:9; 2 Kings 16:3
  • 9. 2 Kings 18:8
  • 10. S Exodus 23:24
  • 11. Exodus 34:13; Isaiah 17:8; Micah 5:14
  • 12. S Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Kings 14:23
  • 13. S Exodus 20:4
  • 14. S Judges 6:8; S 2 Chronicles 7:14; S Job 34:33; Ezekiel 3:17-19
  • 15. S 1 Samuel 9:9
  • 16. Jeremiah 4:1; Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 23:22; Jeremiah 25:5; Jeremiah 35:15; Jeremiah 36:3; Zechariah 1:4
  • 17. Matthew 23:34
  • 18. S Exodus 32:9; Deuteronomy 31:27; Acts 7:51
  • 19. S Leviticus 26:11; Deuteronomy 29:25; Judges 2:20; 1 Kings 11:11; 2 Kings 18:12; Psalms 78:10; Ezekiel 5:6; Malachi 2:10
  • 20. S Deuteronomy 32:21; Hosea 11:2; Romans 1:21-23
  • 21. Jeremiah 2:5
  • 22. S Deuteronomy 12:4; Deuteronomy 12:30-31
  • 23. S Exodus 32:4; 1 Kings 12:28
  • 24. S Deuteronomy 16:21; 1 Kings 14:15,23
  • 25. S Genesis 2:1; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 19:13; 2 Kings 21:3
  • 26. S Judges 2:11; 1 Kings 16:31
  • 27. S Deuteronomy 12:31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 2 Kings 16:3; Ezekiel 16:21
  • 28. S Leviticus 19:26
  • 29. S 1 Kings 21:20; Romans 7:14
  • 30. S Genesis 4:14; S Exodus 33:15; S 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
  • 31. 1 Kings 14:22-23; 2 Kings 16:3; Jeremiah 3:6-10; Ezekiel 23:13
  • 32. S ver 6; 2 Kings 15:29
  • 33. Jeremiah 7:15; Jeremiah 15:1
  • 34. S 1 Samuel 15:27; S 1 Kings 11:11
  • 35. 1 Kings 12:20
  • 36. S 1 Kings 12:30
  • 37. Ezekiel 39:23-24
  • 38. S Judges 6:8
  • 39. S 1 Kings 9:7

Footnotes 1

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