17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship 6 the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave 7 the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel.
1 sn This refers to the foreigners whom the king of Assyria settled in the land (see v. 35a).
2 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
3 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.
3 tn Heb “and they said to the king of Assyria, saying.” The plural subject of the verb is indefinite.
4 tn Heb “Look they are killing them.”
4 tn Heb “fear.”
5 tn Heb “commanded.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “What was the manner…?”
6 tn Heb “fearing.”
7 tn Heb “and she saw, and look.”
8 tn Or “conspiracy, conspiracy.”
8 tc The second plural subject may refer to the leaders of the Assyrian army. However, some prefer to read “whom I deported,” changing the verb to a first person singular form with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix. This reading has some support from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic witnesses.
9 tc Heb “and let them go and let them live there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” The two plural verbs seem inconsistent with the preceding and following contexts, where only one priest is sent back to Samaria. The singular has the support of Greek, Syriac, and Latin witnesses.