2 Kings 17:1-5

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

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

2 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

3 Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid tribute to him.

4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria as [he had] year after year; so the king of Assyria arrested him, and confined him [in] a house of imprisonment.

5 So the king of Assyria went up in all the land, then he went up [to] Samaria and besieged it [for] three years.

2 Kings 17:1-5 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. This would have been Shalmaneser V of Assyria (ruled ca. 727-722 bc)