2 Kings 18:9-12

9 Now 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 At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ²the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured.

11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in ³Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12 because * they ⁴did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

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. 2 Kings 17:3-7
• 2. 2 Kings 17:6
• 3. 1 Chronicles 5:26
• 4. 1 Kings 9:6; Daniel 9:6, 10