2 Kings 17:29–41, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 17:29–41
Resettled communities combine inherited and local worship
Nations keep their gods and also "fear" the Lord
Every nation still makes its own gods and puts them in the high-place houses the Samaritans had made, each nation in the cities where they live. The men of Babylon make Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth make Nergal, the men of Hamath make Ashima, the Avvites make Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burn their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech. They also fear the Lord and appoint from among themselves priests of the high places who sacrifice for them in the high-place houses. They fear the Lord and serve their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes, rules, law, or commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. The Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded: you shall not fear other gods. The Lord who brought you out of Egypt with great power you shall fear; to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. They would not listen, but kept their former manner. So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children and children's children do as their fathers did, to this day. The charge is syncretism — two fears in one life — not an ethnic slur against later neighbors, and not a warrant to attack religious minorities. The text wants undivided worship, not a pogrom.
How this should shape us
Do not congratulate yourself for adding the Lord's name to a shelf of older gods. Fear that still burns children or keeps carved images is not the fear this book asks for, and the remedy is repentance, not hostility toward people whose parents were resettled here.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 17:29–41 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: MT, Greek, and Old Latin forms reflect complex editing; 'fear' shifts meaning within the unit, and the final audience's relation to later Samaritans cannot be reduced to race.
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 17:29–41, 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 17:29–41
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 17:29–41
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 17:29–41
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
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
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 17:29–41, 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 17:29–41
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 17:29–41
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 17:29–41
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 ↗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 ↗