2 Kings 17:15-25

15 ¹They rejected His statutes and ²His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And ³they followed * vanity and ⁴became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the ⁵LORD had commanded them not to do like them.

16 They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even ⁶two calves, and ⁷made an Asherah and ⁸worshiped all the host of heaven and ⁹served Baal.

17 Then ¹⁰they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and ¹¹practiced divination and enchantments, and ¹²sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.

18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and ¹³removed them from His sight; ¹⁴none was left except * the tribe of Judah.

19 Also ¹⁵Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but ¹⁶walked in the customs which Israel had introduced.

20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and ¹⁷gave them into the hand of plunderers, until * He had cast them out of His sight.

21 When ¹⁸He had torn Israel from the house of David, ¹⁹they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then ²⁰Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.

22 The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them

23 ²¹until * the LORD removed Israel from His sight, ²²as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. ²³So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Cities of Israel Filled with Strangers

24 ²⁴The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from ²⁵Avva and from ²⁶Hamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

25 At the beginning of their living there, they ²⁷did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.

2 Kings 17:15-25 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. Jeremiah 8:9
• 2. Exodus 24:6-8; Deuteronomy 29:25
• 3. Deuteronomy 32:21
• 4. Jeremiah 2:5; Romans 1:21-23
• 5. Deuteronomy 12:30, 31
• 6. 1 Kings 12:28
• 7. 1 Kings 14:15, 23
• 8. Deuteronomy 4:19; 2 Kings 21:3
• 9. 1 Kings 16:31
• 10. 2 Kings 16:3
• 11. Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10-12
• 12. 1 Kings 21:20
• 13. 2 Kings 17:6
• 14. 1 Kin 11:13, 32, 36
• 15. 1 Kings 14:22, 23
• 16. 2 Kings 16:3
• 17. 2 Kings 15:29
• 18. 1 Kings 11:11, 31
• 19. 1 Kings 12:20
• 20. 1 Kings 12:28-33
• 21. 2 Kings 17:6
• 22. 2 Kings 17:13
• 23. 2 Kings 17:6
• 24. Ezra 4:2, 10
• 25. 2 Kings 18:34
• 26. 1 Kings 8:65
• 27. 2 Kings 17:32-41

Footnotes

• [a] I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deity
• [b] Lit "face"
• [c] Lit "statutes"
• [d] Lit "of Israel which they"
• [e] Lit "made"
• [f] Lit "seed"
• [g] Lit "from His face"
• [h] Lit "sin"
• [i] In 2 Kin 18:34, "Ivvah"