2 Kings 17

ENGWEBEnglish41 verses

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

2He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.

4The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.

9The children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;

10and they set them up pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill, and under every green tree;

11and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;

12and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

14Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.

15They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.

16They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

17They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

18Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.

22The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them;

23until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

24The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and lived in the cities of it.

25So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”

27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”

28So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.

29However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

30The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34To this day they do what they did before: they don’t fear Yahweh, neither do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

35with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;

36but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.

37The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods.

38You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall you fear other gods.

39But you shall fear Yahweh your God; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”

40However they did not listen, but they did what they did before.

41So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images. Their children likewise, and their children’s children, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Commentary

17:1 To reign - He usurped the kingdom in Ahaz's fourth year; but either was not owned as king, by the generality of the people; or was not accepted and established in his kingdom, 'till Ahaz's twelfth year. Nine - After his confirmation and peaceable possession of his kingdom: for in all, he reigned seventeen, or eighteen years; twelve with Ahaz, who reigned sixteen years, and six with Hezekiah.

Chapter 17 This chapter gives us an account of the captivity of the ten tribes, and so finishes the history of that kingdom, after it had continued about 265 years, from the setting up of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In it we have, I. A short narrative of this destruction (v. 1-6). II. Remarks upon it, and the causes of it, for the justifying of God in it and for warning to others (v. 7–23). III. An account of the nations which succeeded them in the possession of their land, and the mongrel religion set up among them (v. 24–41).Verses 1-6 We have here the reign and ruin of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel, concerning whom observe,I. That, though he forced his way to the crown by treason and murder (as we read ch. 15:30), yet he gained not the possession of it till seven or eight years after; for it was in the fourth year of Ahaz that he slew Pekah, but did not himself begin to reign till the twelfth year of Ahaz, v. 1. Whether by the king of Assyria, or by the king of Judah, or by some of his own people, does not appear, but it seems so long he was kept out of the throne he aimed at. Justly were his bad practices thus chastised, and the word of the prophet was thus fulfilled (Hos. 10:3), Now they shall say We have no king, because we feared not the Lord.II. That, though he was bad, yet not so bad as the kings of Israel had been before him (v. 2), not so devoted to the calves as they had been. One of them (that at Dan), the Jews say, had been, before this, carried away by the king of Assyria in the expedition recorded ch. 15:29, (to which perhaps the prophet refers, Hos. 8:5, Thy calf, O Samaria! has cast thee off), which made him put the less confidence in the other. And some say that this Hoshea took off the embargo which the former kings had put their subjects under, forbidding them to go up to Jerusalem to worship, which he permitted those to do that had a mind to it. But what shall we think of this dispensation of providence, that the destruction of the kingdom of Israel should come in the reign of one of the best of its kings? Thy judgments, O God! are a great deep. God would hereby show that in bringing this ruin upon them he designed to punish, 1. Not only the sins of that generation, but of the foregoing ages, and to reckon for the iniquities of their fathers, who had been long in filing the measure and treasuring up wrath against this day of wrath. 2. Not only the sins of their kings, but the sins of the people. If Hoshea was not so bad as the former kings, yet the people were as bad as those that went before them, and it was an aggravation of their badness, and brought ruin the sooner, that their king did not set them so bad an example as the former kings had done, nor hinder them from reforming; he gave them leave to do better, but they did as bad as ever, which laid the blame of their sin and ruin wholly upon themselves.III. That the destruction came gradually. They were for some time made tributaries before they were made captives to the king of Assyria (v. 3), and, if that less judgment had prevailed to humble and reform them, the greater would have been prevented.IV. That they brought it upon themselves by the indirect course they took to shake off the yoke of the king of Assyria, v. 4. Had the king and people of Israel applied to God, made their peace with him and their prayers to him, they might have recovered their liberty, ease, and honour; but they withheld their tribute, and trusted to the king of Egypt to assist them in their revolt, which, if it had taken effect, would have been but to change their oppressors. But Egypt became to them the staff of a broken reed. This provoked the king of Assyria to proceed against them with the more severity. Men get nothing by struggling with the net, but entangle themselves the more.V. That it was an utter destruction that came upon them. 1. The king of Israel was made a prisoner; he was shut up and bound, being, it is probable, taken by surprise, before Samaria was besieged. 2. The land of Israel was made a prey. The army of the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, made themselves master of it (v. 5), and treated the people as traitors to be punished with the sword of justice rather than as fair enemies. 3. The royal city of Israel was besieged, and at length taken. Three years it held out after the country was conquered, and no doubt a great deal of misery was endured at that time which is not particularly recorded; but the brevity of the story, and the passing of this matter over lightly, methinks, intimate that they were abandoned of God and he did not now regard the affliction of Israel, as sometimes as he had done. 4. The people of Israel were carried captives into Assyria, v. 6. The generality of the people, those that were of any note, were forced away into the conqueror’s country, to be slaves and beggars there. (1.) Thus he was pleased to exercise a dominion over them, and to show that they were entirely at his disposal. (2.) By depriving them of their possessions and estates, real and personal, and exposing them to all the hardships and reproaches of a removal to a strange country, under the power of an imperious army, he chastised them for their rebellion and their endeavour to shake off his yoke. (3.) Thus he effectually prevented all such attempts for the future and secured their country to himself. (4.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG በይሁዳ ንጉሥ በአካዝ በአሥራ ሁለተኛው ዓመት የኤላ ልጅ ሆሴዕ በእስራኤል ላይ በሰማርያ ንጉሥ ሆነ፤ ዘጠኝ ዓመትም ነገሠ። አማርኛ ENGNIV In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine yea… English BCV ኣካዝ ኣብ ይሁዳ ምስ ነገሰ ኣብ መበል ዓሰርተ ኽልተ ዓመቱ፥ ሆሴዕ ወዲ ኤላ ኣብ ሰማርያ ኣብ ልዕሊ እስራኤል ነገሰ፤ ትሽዓተ ዓመት ከዓ ገዝአ። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Ahaaz mootiin Yihudaa mo'ee waggaa kudha lammaffaa isaatti, Hose'a ilmi Elaa mootii ta'ee Samaariyaa keessa taa'ee, Isr… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወአመ ዓሠርቱ ወካልእ ዓመተ መንግሥቱ ለአካዝ ንጉሠ ይሁደ ነግሠ ሆሴዕ ወልደ ኤላ በሰማርያ ለእስራኤል ተስዓተ ዓመተ። giz GAZGAZ Ahaaz mootiin Yihudaa mo'ee waggaa kudha lammaffaa isaatti, Hose'a ilmi Elaa mootii ta'ee Samaariyaa keessa taa'ee, Isr… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ኣካዝ ኣብ ይሁዳ ምስ ነገሰ ኣብ መበል ዓሰርተ ኽልተ ዓመቱ፥ ሆሴዕ ወዲ ኤላ ኣብ ሰማርያ ኣብ ልዕሊ እስራኤል ነገሰ፤ ትሽዓተ ዓመት ከዓ ገዝአ። ትግርኛ AMHNIV የይሁዳ ንጉሥ አካዝ በነገሠ በዐሥራ ሁለተኛው ዓመት፣ የኤላ ልጅ ሆሴዕ በሰማርያ ከተማ በእስራኤል ላይ ነገሠ፤ ዘጠኝ ዓመትም ገዛ። አማርኛ