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2 Kings 17:5-23
New English Translation

5 The king of Assyria marched through[a] the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel[b] 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

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[c] Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped[d] other gods; 8 they observed the practices[e] of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before them,[f] and followed the example of the kings of Israel.[g] 9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right.[h] They built high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away before them did. Their evil practices made the Lord angry.[i] 12 They worshiped[j] the disgusting idols[k] in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[l]

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.”[m] 14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors,[n] who had not trusted the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey.[o] They paid allegiance to[p] worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord.[q] They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[r] 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,[s] and worshiped[t] Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire,[u] and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry.[v]

18 So the Lord was furious[w] with Israel and rejected them;[x] only the tribe of Judah was left. 19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example.[y] 20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated[z] them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king.[aa] Jeroboam drove Israel away[ab] from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin.[ac] 22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam and did not repudiate[ad] them. 23 Finally[ae] the Lord rejected Israel[af] just as he had warned he would do[ag] through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 17:5 tn Heb “went up against.”
  2. 2 Kings 17:6 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.
  3. 2 Kings 17:7 tn Heb “and from under the hand of.” The words “freed them” for stylistic reasons replace the term “under.”
  4. 2 Kings 17:7 tn Heb “feared.”
  5. 2 Kings 17:8 tn Heb “walked in the customs.”
  6. 2 Kings 17:8 tn Heb “before the sons of Israel.”
  7. 2 Kings 17:8 tn Heb “and [the practices of] the kings of Israel which they did.”
  8. 2 Kings 17:9 tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayekhappeʾu), 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.
  9. 2 Kings 17:11 tn Heb “and they did evil things, angering the Lord.”
  10. 2 Kings 17:12 tn Or “served.”
  11. 2 Kings 17:12 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
  12. 2 Kings 17:12 tn Heb “about which the Lord had said to them, ‘You must not do this thing.’”
  13. 2 Kings 17:13 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.”
  14. 2 Kings 17:14 tn Heb and they stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers.”
  15. 2 Kings 17:15 tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”
  16. 2 Kings 17:15 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 Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).
  17. 2 Kings 17:15 tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the Lord” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing”, which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.
  18. 2 Kings 17:15 tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the Lord commanded them not to do like them.”
  19. 2 Kings 17:16 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsevaʾ 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.
  20. 2 Kings 17:16 tn Or “served.”
  21. 2 Kings 17:17 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
  22. 2 Kings 17:17 tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”
  23. 2 Kings 17:18 tn Heb “very angry.”
  24. 2 Kings 17:18 tn Heb “turned them away from his face.”
  25. 2 Kings 17:19 tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”
  26. 2 Kings 17:20 tn Or “afflicted.”
  27. 2 Kings 17:21 tn Heb “and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king.”
  28. 2 Kings 17:21 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the verb is נָדָא (nadaʾ), an alternate form of נָדָה (nadah), “push away.” The marginal reading (Qere) assumes the verb נָדָח (nadakh), “drive away.”
  29. 2 Kings 17:21 tn Heb “a great sin.”
  30. 2 Kings 17:22 tn Heb “turn away from.”
  31. 2 Kings 17:23 tn Heb “until.”
  32. 2 Kings 17:23 tn Heb “the Lord turned Israel away from his face.”
  33. 2 Kings 17:23 tn Heb “just as he said.”
Close NRSVUE

2 Kings 17:5-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.(A)

7 This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods(B) 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.[a](C) 9 The people of Israel did[b] things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city;(D) 10 they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles[c] on every high hill and under every green tree;(E) 11 there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord had carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger; 12 they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”(F) 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”(G) 14 They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.(H) 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their ancestors and the warnings that he had given them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.(I) 16 They rejected all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole,[d] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.(J) 17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire, used divination and augury, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.(K) 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.(L)

19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20 The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel; he punished them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had banished them from his presence.(M)

21 When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin.(N) 22 The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had foretold through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

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Footnotes

  1. 17.8 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 17.9 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 17.10 Or Asherahs
  4. 17.16 Or Asherah
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2 Kings 16
2 Kings 18
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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.