2 Kings 17:1–6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 17:1–6
Hoshea's rebellion ends in Samaria's fall
Hoshea's smaller evil still ends in a three-year siege
Hoshea son of Elah begins to reign in Samaria and reigns nine years. He does what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser king of Assyria comes up, and Hoshea becomes his servant and pays tribute. Then the king of Assyria finds treachery: Hoshea sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered no tribute as in previous years. The king of Assyria shuts him up and binds him in prison.
The king of Assyria invades all the land, comes to Samaria, and besieges it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captures Samaria and carries Israel away to Assyria. He places them in Halah, on the Habor the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. The fall is political on the surface — a vassal gambling on Egypt. The next units will say why the fall is not only politics. For this unit, the city that once surrounded blinded Arameans is itself surrounded, starved, and emptied eastward.
How this should shape us
A milder last king is not the same as a rescued kingdom. Do not bet a people's future on a second empire because you are tired of paying the first, and do not call deportation a mere shift in tax policy.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 17:1–6 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Kings names Shalmaneser while Sargon II claims Samaria; stages, agents, and chronology of conquest and deportation require critical comparison rather than forced harmonization.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Kings 17:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 17:1–6
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 652–655, translation and translator notes for 17:1–6
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 257–261, exposition covering 2 Kings 17:1–6
Supports: Assyrian royal claims relevant to Samaria's fall, used critically because imperial inscriptions magnify the king and suppress subjected voices.
Frame, RINAP 2 (2021), official ORACC critical edition and Sargon II Samaria records, including the conquest, deportation, resettlement, administration, and tribute claims
Supports: Only publisher-visible evidence for complex MT, Septuagint, and Old Latin textual and editorial history in 2 Kings 17.
Tekoniemi, The Textual History of 2 Kings 17 (2021), official synopsis and contents: vv. 1–23 pp. 39–154; redaction pp. 155–217; vv. 24–41 pp. 218–255; conclusions pp. 256–262
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 17:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 17:1–6
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 652–655, translation and translator notes for 17:1–6
Open source ↗scholarly commentary chapter
1 and 2 Kings
Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Exact location: Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 257–261, exposition covering 2 Kings 17:1–6
Open source ↗critical edition of primary assyrian inscriptions
The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721-705 BC)
Grant Frame; primary inscriptions of Sargon II
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, University of Pennsylvania, 2021
Supports: Assyrian royal claims relevant to Samaria's fall, used critically because imperial inscriptions magnify the king and suppress subjected voices.
Exact location: Frame, RINAP 2 (2021), official ORACC critical edition and Sargon II Samaria records, including the conquest, deportation, resettlement, administration, and tribute claims
Open source ↗scholarly monograph publisher preview
The Textual History of 2 Kings 17
Timo Tekoniemi
De Gruyter, 2021
Supports: Only publisher-visible evidence for complex MT, Septuagint, and Old Latin textual and editorial history in 2 Kings 17.
Exact location: Tekoniemi, The Textual History of 2 Kings 17 (2021), official synopsis and contents: vv. 1–23 pp. 39–154; redaction pp. 155–217; vv. 24–41 pp. 218–255; conclusions pp. 256–262
Open source ↗