Discovery Box2 Kings 17:1--18:37
Context17:1 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria 1 for nine years. 17:2 He did evil in the sight of 2 the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him. 17:3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria threatened 3 him; Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute. 17:4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. 4 Hoshea had sent messengers to King So 5 of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him. 6 17:5 The king of Assyria marched through 7 the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years. 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel 8 to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.
17:7 This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of 9 Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped 10 other gods; 17:8 they observed the practices 11 of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel. 12 17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. 13 They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. 14 17:10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 17:11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the Lord angry. 15 17:12 They worshiped 16 the disgusting idols 17 in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 18
17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” 19 17:14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors, 20 who had not trusted the Lord their God. 17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. 21 They paid allegiance to 22 worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. 23 They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 24 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, 25 and worshiped 26 Baal. 17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, 27 and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 28
17:18 So the Lord was furious 29 with Israel and rejected them; 30 only the tribe of Judah was left. 17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. 31 17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated 32 them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 17:21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. 33 Jeroboam drove Israel away 34 from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin. 35 17:22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and did not repudiate 36 them. 17:23 Finally 37 the Lord rejected Israel 38 just as he had warned he would do 39 through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
17:24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners 40 from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria 41 in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 17:25 When they first moved in, 42 they did not worship 43 the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 17:26 The king of Assyria was told, 44 “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people 45 because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you 46 deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” 47 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. 48 He taught them how to worship 49 the Lord.
17:29 But each of these nations made 50 its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria 51 had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 17:30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, 52 the people from Cuth made Nergal, 53 the people from Hamath made Ashima, 54 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, 55 and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, 56 the gods of Sepharvaim. 17:32 At the same time they worshiped 57 the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. 58 17:33 They were worshiping 59 the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.
17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship 60 the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave 61 the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 17:35 The Lord made an agreement 62 with them 63 and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; 64 bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 17:37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 17:38 You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 17:40 But they 65 pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices. 17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
18:1 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. 18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 66 His mother 67 was Abi, 68 the daughter of Zechariah. 18:3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done. 69 18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. 70 He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time 71 the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. 72 18:5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. 73 18:6 He was loyal to 74 the Lord and did not abandon him. 75 He obeyed the commandments which the Lord had given to 76 Moses. 18:7 The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. 77 He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him. 78 18:8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress. 79
18:9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched 80 up against Samaria 81 and besieged it. 18:10 After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured. 18:11 The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel 82 to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. 18:12 This happened because they did not obey 83 the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. 84 They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. 85
18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. 86 If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” 87 So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents 88 of silver and thirty talents of gold. 18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in 89 the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated 90 and gave them to the king of Assyria.
18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser 91 from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, 92 along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went 93 and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 94 18:18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.
18:19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? 95 18:20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. 96 In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me? 18:21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. 18:22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’ 18:23 Now make a deal 97 with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 18:24 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 98 18:25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March 99 up against this land and destroy it.’”’” 100
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 101 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 102 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. 103 His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.” 104
18:28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, 105 “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 18:29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand! 106 18:30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 18:31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. 107 Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 18:32 until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” 18:33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 108 18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? 109 Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria 110 from my power? 111 18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” 112 18:36 The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
18:37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn 113 and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
[17:1] 1 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
[17:2] 2 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
[17:3] 3 tn Heb “went up against.”
[17:4] 4 tn Heb “and the king of Assyria found in Hoshea conspiracy.”
[17:4] 5 sn For discussion of this name, see HALOT 744 s.v. סוֹא and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 196.
[17:4] 6 tn Heb “and bound him in the house of confinement.”
[17:5] 7 tn Heb “went up against.”
[17:6] 8 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.
[17:7] 9 tn Heb “and from under the hand of.” The words “freed them” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[17:8] 11 tn Heb “walked in the customs.”
[17:8] 12 tn Heb “and [the practices of] the kings of Israel which they did.”
[17:9] 13 tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayÿkhappÿ’u), translated here “said,” is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root חָפַה (khafah), “to cover,” and translate “they did it in secret” (see BDB 341 s.v. חָפָא). However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning “ascribe, impute,” which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support (see HALOT 339 s.v. חפא). In this case Israel claimed that the
[17:9] 14 sn That is, from the city’s perimeter to the central citadel.
[17:11] 15 tn Heb “and they did evil things, angering the
[17:12] 17 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
[17:12] 18 tn Heb “about which the
[17:13] 19 tn Heb “obey my commandments and rules according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
[17:14] 20 tn Heb and they stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers.”
[17:15] 21 tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”
[17:15] 22 tn Heb “They went [or, ‘followed’] after.” This idiom probably does not mean much if translated literally. It is found most often in Deuteronomy or in literature related to the covenant. It refers in the first instance to loyalty to God and to His covenant or His commandments (1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the
[17:15] 23 tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the
[17:15] 24 tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the
[17:16] 25 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
[17:17] 27 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
[17:17] 28 tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the
[17:18] 29 tn Heb “very angry.”
[17:18] 30 tn Heb “turned them away from his face.”
[17:19] 31 tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”
[17:21] 33 tn Heb “and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king.”
[17:21] 34 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the verb is נָדָא (nada’), an alternate form of נָדָה (nadah), “push away.” The marginal reading (Qere) assumes the verb נָדָח (nadakh), “drive away.”
[17:21] 35 tn Heb “a great sin.”
[17:22] 36 tn Heb “turn away from.”
[17:23] 38 tn Heb “the
[17:23] 39 tn Heb “just as he said.”
[17:24] 40 tn The object is supplied in the translation.
[17:24] 41 sn In vv. 24-29 Samaria stands for the entire northern kingdom of Israel.
[17:25] 42 tn Heb “in the beginning of their living there.”
[17:26] 44 tn Heb “and they said to the king of Assyria, saying.” The plural subject of the verb is indefinite.
[17:26] 45 tn Heb “Look they are killing them.”
[17:27] 46 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.
[17:27] 47 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.
[17:28] 48 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
[17:29] 50 sn The verb “make” refers to the production of idols. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 210-11.
[17:29] 51 tn Heb “Samaritans.” This refers to the Israelites who had been deported from the land.
[17:30] 52 sn No deity is known by the name Succoth Benoth in extant Mesopotamian literature. For speculation as to the identity of this deity, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 211.
[17:30] 53 sn Nergal was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld.
[17:30] 54 sn This deity is unknown in extra-biblical literature. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 211-12.
[17:31] 55 sn Nibhaz and Tartak were two Elamite deities. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 212.
[17:31] 56 sn Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim are unknown in extra-biblical literature. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 212.
[17:32] 58 tn Heb “and they appointed for themselves from their whole people priests for the high places and they were serving for them in the house[s] of the high places.”
[17:34] 61 tn Heb “commanded.”
[17:35] 63 sn That is, the descendants of Jacob/Israel (see v. 35b).
[17:36] 64 tn Heb “and outstretched arm.”
[17:40] 65 sn This refers to the foreigners whom the king of Assyria settled in the land (see v. 35a).
[18:2] 66 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[18:2] 67 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
[18:2] 68 tn The parallel passage in 2 Chr 29:1 has “Abijah.”
[18:3] 69 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
[18:4] 70 tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.
[18:4] 71 tn Heb “until those days.”
[18:4] 72 tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”
[18:5] 73 tn Heb “and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, and those who were before him.”
[18:6] 75 tn Heb “and did not turn aside from after him.”
[18:6] 76 tn Heb “had commanded.”
[18:7] 77 tn Heb “in all which he went out [to do], he was successful.”
[18:7] 78 tn Heb “and did not serve him.”
[18:8] 79 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:9.
[18:9] 80 tn Heb “went” (also in v. 13).
[18:9] 81 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
[18:11] 82 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.
[18:12] 83 tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
[18:12] 84 tn Heb “his covenant.”
[18:12] 85 tn Heb “all that Moses, the
[18:14] 86 tn Or “I have done wrong.”
[18:14] 87 tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”
[18:14] 88 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.
[18:15] 89 tn Heb “that was found.”
[18:16] 90 tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the
[18:17] 91 sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.
[18:17] 92 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[18:17] 93 tn Heb “and they went up and came.”
[18:17] 94 tn Heb “the field of the washer.”
[18:19] 95 tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”
[18:20] 96 tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.
[18:23] 97 tn Heb “exchange pledges.”
[18:24] 98 tn Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?” In vv. 23-24 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 21. His reasoning seems to be as follows: “In your weakened condition you obviously need military strength. Agree to the king’s terms and I will personally give you more horses than you are capable of outfitting. If I, a mere minor official, am capable of giving you such military might, just think what power the king has. There is no way the Egyptians can match our strength. It makes much better sense to deal with us.”
[18:25] 100 sn In v. 25 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 22. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.
[18:26] 101 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.
[18:27] 103 tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.
[18:27] 104 tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”
[18:28] 105 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and he spoke and said.”
[18:29] 106 tc The MT has “his hand,” but this is due to graphic confusion of vav (ו) and yod (י). The translation reads “my hand,” along with many medieval Hebrew
[18:31] 107 tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”
[18:33] 108 tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations really rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the main verb. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”
[18:34] 109 tn The parallel passage in Isa 36:19 omits “Hena and Ivvah.” The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”
[18:34] 110 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
[18:34] 111 tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 33, 35).
[18:35] 112 tn Heb “that the
