2 Kings 19:17-18

19:17 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. 19:18 They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ² 

2 Kings 17:5-11

17:5 The king of Assyria marched through ³  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 ⁴  to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

A Summary of Israel’s Sinful History

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 ⁵  Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped ⁶  other gods; 17:8 they observed the practices ⁷  of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel. ⁸  17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ⁹  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ¹⁰  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. ¹¹ 

2 Kings 17:2

17:2 He did evil in the sight of ¹²  the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him.

2 Kings 1:13-14

1:13 The king ¹³  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ¹⁴  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 1:14 Indeed, ¹⁵  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ¹⁶  So now, please have respect for my life.”

Isaiah 10:8-11

10:8 Indeed, ¹⁷  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁸ 

10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, ¹⁹ 

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s ²⁰  or Samaria’s.

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ²¹ 

[19:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”

[19:18]  ² tn Heb “so they destroyed them.”

[17:5]  ³ tn Heb “went up against.”

[17:6]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.

[17:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from under the hand of.” The words “freed them” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “feared.”

[17:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “walked in the customs.”

[17:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [the practices of] the kings of Israel which they did.”

[17:9]  ⁹ 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 Lord authorized their pagan practices.

[17:9]  ¹⁰ sn That is, from the city’s perimeter to the central citadel.

[17:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they did evil things, angering the Lord.”

[17:2]  ¹² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[1:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “look.”

[1:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their fifty.”

[10:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[10:9]  ¹⁸ sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.

[10:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).

[10:10]  ²⁰ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:11]  ²¹ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”