2 Kings 17
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and reigned nine years. 2 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. 4 The 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.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6 In 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.
7 It 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, 8 and 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.
9 The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against Yahweh their God; and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 There they burned incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger.
12 They served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet 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.” 14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
15 They 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 went after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
17 They 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 Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 18 Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20 Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21 For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin. 22 The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them; 23 until 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.
24 The 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. They possessed Samaria, and lived in its cities.
25 So 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. 26 Therefore 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.”
27 Then 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.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.
29 However 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. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared Yahweh, and made for themselves from among them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34 To this day they do after the former manner. They don’t fear Yahweh, neither do they follow his statutes, or his ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 with 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; 36 but Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow yourselves, and to him you shall sacrifice.
37 The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore; and you shall not fear other gods. 38 You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall you fear other gods. 39 But Yahweh your God you shall fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However they didn’t listen, but they did after their former manner. 41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images. Their children likewise did as did their fathers. So they do to this day.
2 Kings 17 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Second Kings 17 records the fall of Samaria and the end of the northern kingdom as an independent nation. Hoshea rebels against Assyria, Samaria endures a three-year siege, and Israel is deported. Yet the narrator does not explain the disaster mainly through military strategy. Assyria is the instrument; the deeper cause is Israel’s long rejection of Yahweh’s covenant.
The chapter then describes foreign populations resettled in Israel’s cities. After lions kill some settlers, an Israelite priest teaches them how to “fear Yahweh,” but they continue serving their ancestral gods. This mixed worship is not praised as broad-minded devotion. The narrator finally says they do not truly fear Yahweh, because covenant faithfulness cannot mean adding him to an unchanged collection of idols.
Key Themes
Hoshea is described as evil, though “not as the kings of Israel who were before him.” He may have been less severe in some respect, but Scripture gives no evidence that he restored faithful worship. Relative improvement is not repentance. A ruler can compare favorably with worse predecessors while continuing the system destroying the nation.
Hoshea first pays tribute to Shalmaneser of Assyria, then seeks Egyptian support and withholds payment. The identity of “So king of Egypt” is debated. Politically, Hoshea tries to escape one great power by appealing to another. His conspiracy fails, he is imprisoned, and Samaria faces the Assyrian siege.
The three-year siege ends with Samaria captured and Israelites relocated to Assyrian territories. The text speaks simply of “the king of Assyria,” so readers should avoid assigning every stage beyond what Scripture states. The capital falls exactly as prophets warned, despite generations in which judgment seemed delayed.
Verses 7–23 interrupt the political report with a theological explanation. Israel sinned against the God who rescued them from Egypt. The exodus made their idolatry especially grievous: the people owed their freedom and identity to Yahweh, yet feared the gods of nations from whose practices they had been separated. Redemption created covenant responsibility, not permission to imitate former oppressors or surrounding cultures.
Israel built high places “from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city,” meaning throughout the land, from small settlements to major centers. Sacred pillars and Asherah poles filled hills and green places. Idolatry was not an isolated royal policy; it became ordinary, local, and woven into daily life.
The statement that Israel did things “secretly” does not mean their high places were invisible. It may describe acts concealed from accountability or falsely attributed to Yahweh. In either case, secrecy fails before God. Religious language cannot make what contradicts his word acceptable.
God repeatedly testified through prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways.” The exile therefore follows sustained warning, not divine impatience. Prophets such as Amos and Hosea confronted injustice, idolatry, and false confidence before Samaria fell. Israel’s problem was not lack of revelation but refusal to hear it.
The people “hardened their necks,” rejected the covenant, followed vanity, and “became vain.” Worship shapes the worshiper. Empty gods produce empty lives because they cannot give truth, holiness, or life. Israel gradually reflected what it pursued, exchanging its calling for the character of the nations it copied.
The list grows from golden calves to Asherah, the heavenly host, Baal, child sacrifice, divination, and enchantments. Once God’s commands became negotiable, rebellion expanded. The phrase “sold themselves to do evil” portrays deliberate bondage: practices promising power made the people slaves.
Judah is not allowed to read Israel’s fall with self-righteous distance. Verse 19 says Judah also failed to keep Yahweh’s commands and followed customs Israel created. The northern exile becomes a warning to the surviving kingdom, not proof of Judah’s innocence. Second Kings 18 will introduce Hezekiah’s reform, but later chapters will show that Judah must also answer for persistent covenant rebellion.
Jeroboam receives special emphasis because he established calf sanctuaries and redirected national worship after the kingdom divided. Yet the people were not helpless victims. They continued in his sins. Leaders can institutionalize evil, but later generations remain responsible when they preserve what God condemns.
Assyria replaces deported Israelites with people from conquered regions. Moving populations weakened local loyalties and discouraged rebellion. The chapter recognizes this imperial policy while interpreting events under God’s sovereignty. Empires pursue control for their own purposes, yet cannot operate outside the judgment God announced.
When lions kill settlers, they interpret the crisis through the belief that each land had its own god. The king sends back a priest to teach “the law of the god of the land.” Scripture reports this reasoning without endorsing it. Yahweh is not a territorial deity; he judges Israel, Assyria, settlers, and kings alike.
The priest settles at Bethel, a center of Jeroboam’s corrupted worship. He teaches the newcomers something about fearing Yahweh, but the result remains mixed religion. They create priests from among themselves, use the existing high places, and retain their national gods. Instruction detached from repentance can produce familiarity with God’s name while leaving the controlling loyalties of life unchanged.
Verses 33 and 41 say the settlers feared Yahweh and served their gods, while verse 34 says they did not fear Yahweh. This is the narrator’s judgment on superficial religion. They included him in their rituals but lacked covenant fear: exclusive trust, obedient worship, and rejection of rival gods.
Important Verse Questions
Why was Hoshea called less evil than earlier kings? The text does not specify. He may have omitted some notorious act, but he still receives an evil verdict and makes no decisive reform. Comparison with worse people is not the measure of faithfulness; God’s revealed standard is.
Was Israel exiled only because Hoshea rebelled against Assyria? His rebellion explains the immediate political response, but verses 7–23 identify generations of covenant sin as the ultimate cause. Failed diplomacy triggers the final crisis; idolatry, rejected warnings, and unbelief explain why God allowed the kingdom to fall.
What does “removed them out of his sight” mean? It does not imply that Israel traveled beyond God’s knowledge or presence. The phrase describes removal from the land and from the privileged national place associated with his covenant rule. Exile reverses settlement in Canaan and publicly demonstrates the consequences already set out in covenant warnings such as Deuteronomy 28.
Did every Israelite disappear into Assyria? The chapter describes a massive deportation and the end of the northern kingdom, not the extinction of every individual from the ten tribes. Some remained, and some had moved to Judah. “None left but Judah” summarizes the collapse of the northern state.
Why did God send lions among the settlers? The lions reveal that the land remains under Yahweh’s authority and that replacing the population does not remove accountability. The event gains attention, but fear of danger alone does not create faithful worship. The settlers seek protection while retaining other gods.
Was the returned priest faithful? The text does not disclose his motives, but his location at Bethel and the resulting high-place worship suggest instruction shaped by Israel’s compromised system. He teaches how to fear Yahweh, yet the chapter concludes they do not truly fear him. Partial teaching cannot replace covenant truth.
Does this chapter fully explain the later Samaritans of the New Testament? It records an important stage in Samaria’s population and religion, but centuries of development followed. Later Samaritan identity cannot be reduced to Assyrian settlers alone. New Testament encounters require their own context, with this chapter as part of the background.
Practical Applications
Delayed judgment is not absent judgment. Israel survived many corrupt reigns and may have treated continued existence as proof that prophetic warnings were exaggerated. God’s patience gives space to turn, not permission to continue. Repeated mercy increases responsibility when answered with hardened refusal.
Listen while correction is still an invitation. God sent prophets not merely to predict disaster but to call the people back. Faithful warning is mercy. Individuals, churches, and societies become vulnerable when they silence every uncomfortable voice and keep only messages affirming established habits.
Beware of worship that merely adds Jesus to unchanged loyalties. The settlers learned to acknowledge Yahweh while continuing to serve their gods. Christian language can be used similarly when Christ is added to a life still ruled by status, money, nationalism, superstition, or self. Biblical faith calls for trust and allegiance that reorder every competing devotion.
Practices shape people. Israel followed empty idols and became empty; settlers’ children repeated their fathers’ patterns. Habits of worship, entertainment, speech, spending, and community quietly form character. Discipleship therefore does more than reject false ideas—it builds repeated practices centered on God’s truth, grace, and holiness.
The immediate message of 2 Kings 17 is the covenant judgment that ended the northern kingdom. For Christians, the chapter also exposes humanity’s need for a deliverance deeper than political survival or relocation. The gospel announces that Jesus bears judgment and forms a people drawn from many nations to worship the one God, yet grace never turns divided allegiance into an acceptable final condition.