Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Kings 17:24 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 24. 24And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Assyria resettles Samaria and sends back a priest.”
Read It With
- 2 Kings 17:24–28
Read 2 Kings 17:24 with 17:24–28. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: The Assyrian king settles populations from several regions, lions strike some residents, and an exiled priest returns to teach the land's religious practice.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Assyria resettles Samaria and sends back a priest,” 2 Kings 17:24 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Assyrian resettlement and the returned priest follow conquest, deportation, and the covenant retrospect, showing imperial population policy and the narrator's worship categories after Samaria's fall.
Read 2 Kings 17:24–28 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 17:24–28 forms one scene or regnal notice: The Assyrian king settles populations from several regions, lions strike some residents, and an exiled priest returns to teach the land's religious practice.
Verse 24. 24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
Verse 25. 25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Verse 26. 26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Verse 27. 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
Verse 28. 28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
Follow the Context
- The Assyrian king settles populations from several regions, lions strike some residents, and an exiled priest returns to teach the land's religious practice.
- The unit closes by establishing the result or tension named in “Assyria resettles Samaria and sends back a priest” before the next narrated movement.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Kings 17:24 does not permit the wording “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The settlement account does not authorize ethnic contempt toward Samaritans, immigrants, deportees, mixed communities, or people learning amid coercion.
What Remains True
Theological interpretation never makes imperial domination morally clean or turns displaced and subjected people into scenery for a ruler's story. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: The Assyrian king settles populations from several regions, lions strike some residents, and an exiled priest returns to teach the land's religious practice. In 2 Kings 17:24, the concrete line “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath….” Compare interested accounts without forcing agreement, name the people affected by tribute, siege, displacement, or rule, and refuse modern ethnic or national mapping. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: The Assyrian king settles populations from several regions, lions strike some residents, and an exiled priest returns to teach the land's religious practice.
Teach It Back
In 70–220 words, explain 2 Kings 17:24's role in 17:24–28. Paraphrase “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Kings 17:24–28 — Assyria resettles Samaria and sends back a priestSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The relation of lions, land theology, imperial resettlement, and later Samaritan identity is textually and historically complex; this passage is not a biological origin story.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 17:24–28, 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 17:24–28
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 17:24–28
Open source ↗