2 Reis 17

ARC · Chapter 17/25

1No anno duodecimo de Achaz, rei de Judah, começou a reinar Hoseas, filho de Ela, e reinou sobre Israel, em Samaria, nove annos.

2E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor, comtudo não como os reis de Israel que foram antes d'elle.

3Contra elle subiu Salmanasar, rei da Assyria: e Hoseas ficou sendo servo d'elle, e pagava-lhe presentes.

4Porém o rei da Assyria achou em Hoseas conspiração; porque enviara mensageiros a So, rei do Egypto, e não pagava presentes ao rei da Assyria cada anno, como d'antes: então o rei d'Assyria o encerrou e aprisionou na casa do carcere.

5Porque o rei da Assyria subiu por toda a terra, e veiu até Samaria, e a cercou tres annos.

6No anno nono de Hoseas, o rei da Assyria tomou a Samaria, e transportou a Israel para a Assyria: e fel-os habitar em Halah, e em Habor, junto ao rio de Gozan, e nas cidades dos medos.

7Porque succedeu, que os filhos de Israel peccaram contra o Senhor seu Deus, que os fizera subir da terra do Egypto, de debaixo da mão de Pharaó, rei do Egypto; e temeram a outros deuses,

8E andaram nos estatutos das nações que o Senhor lançara fóra de diante dos filhos de Israel, e nos dos reis de Israel, que elles fizeram.

9E os filhos de Israel fizeram secretamente coisas que não eram rectas, contra o Senhor seu Deus; e edificaram altos em todas as suas cidades, desde a torre das atalaias até á cidade forte.

10E levantaram estatuas e imagens do bosque, em todos os altos outeiros, e debaixo de todas as arvores verdes.

11E queimaram ali incenso em todos os altos, como as nações, que o Senhor transportara de diante d'elles: e fizeram coisas ruins, para provocarem á ira o Senhor.

12E serviram os idolos, dos quaes o Senhor lhes disséra: Não fareis estas coisas.

13E o Senhor protestou a Israel e a Judah, pelo ministerio de todos os prophetas e de todos os videntes, dizendo: Converte-os de vossos maus caminhos, e guardae os meus mandamentos e os meus estatutos, conforme toda a lei que ordenei a vossos paes e que eu vos enviei pelo ministerio de meus servos, os prophetas.

14Porém não deram ouvidos; antes endureceram a sua cerviz, como a cerviz de seus paes, que não creram no Senhor seu Deus.

15E rejeitaram os seus estatutos, e o seu concerto, que fizera com seus paes, como tambem os seus testemunhos, com que protestara contra elle: e andaram após a vaidade, e ficaram vãos; como tambem após as nações, que estavam em roda d'elles, das quaes o Senhor lhes tinha ordenado que não fizessem como ellas

16E deixaram todos os mandamentos do Senhor seu Deus, e fizeram imagens de fundição, dois bezerros: e fizeram um idolo do bosque, e se prostraram perante todo o exercito do céu, e serviram a Baal.

17Tambem fizeram passar pelo fogo a seus filhos e suas filhas, e deram-se a adivinhações, e criam em agouros; e venderam-se para fazer o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor, para o provocarem á ira.

18Pelo que o Senhor muito se indignou sobre Israel, e os tirou de diante da sua face: nada mais ficou, senão só a tribu de Judah.

19Até Judah não guardou os mandamentos do Senhor seu Deus; antes andaram nos estatutos de Israel, que elles fizeram.

20Pelo que o Senhor rejeitou a toda a semente de Israel, e os opprimiu, e os deu nas mãos dos despojadores, até que os tirou de diante da sua presença.

21Porque rasgou a Israel da casa de David, e fizeram rei a Jeroboão, filho de Nebat: e Jeroboão apartou a Israel de após o Senhor, e os fez peccar um grande peccado.

22Assim andaram os filhos de Israel em todos os peccados de Jeroboão, que tinha feito: nunca se apartaram d'elles.

23Até que o Senhor tirou a Israel de diante da sua presença, como fallara pelo ministerio de todos os seus servos, os prophetas: assim foi Israel transportado da sua terra a Assyria até ao dia de hoje.

24E o rei da Assyria trouxe gente de Babel, e de Cutha, e de Ava, e de Hamath e Sefarvaim, e a fez habitar nas cidades de Samaria, em logar dos filhos d'Israel: e tomaram a Samaria em herança, e habitaram nas suas cidades.

25E succedeu que, no principio da sua habitação ali, não temeram ao Senhor: e mandou entre elles o Senhor leões, que mataram a alguns d'elles.

26Pelo que fallaram ao rei da Assyria, dizendo: A gente que transportaste, e fizeste habitar nas cidades de Samaria, não sabe o costume do Deus da terra: pelo que mandou leões entre ellas, e eis que os matam, porquanto não sabem o culto do Deus da terra.

27Então o rei d'Assyria mandou dizer: Levae ali um dos sacerdotes que transportastes de lá; e vão-se, e habitem lá: e elle lhes ensine o costume do Deus da terra.

28Veiu pois um dos sacerdotes que transportaram de Samaria, e habitou em Bethel, e lhes ensinou como deviam temer ao Senhor.

29Porém cada nação fez os seus deuses, e os pozeram nas casas dos altos que os samaritanos fizeram, cada nação nas suas cidades, nas quaes habitavam.

30E os de Babel fizeram Succoth-*benoth; e os de Cutha fizeram Nergal; e os de Hamath fizeram Asima.

31E os aveos fizeram Nibha e Tartak: e os sepharvitas queimavam seus filhos a fogo, a Adram-melech, e a Anam-melech, deuses de Sepharvaim.

32Tambem temiam ao Senhor: e dos mais baixos se fizeram sacerdotes dos logares altos, os quaes lhes faziam o ministerio nas casas dos logares altos.

33Assim que ao Senhor temiam, e tambem a seus deuses serviam, segundo o costume das nações d'entre as quaes transportaram aquellas.

34Até ao dia de hoje fazem segundo os primeiros costumes: não temem ao Senhor, nem fazem segundo os seus estatutos, e segundo as suas ordenanças, e segundo a lei, e segundo o mandamento que o Senhor ordenou aos filhos de Jacob, a quem deu o nome d'Israel.

35Comtudo o Senhor tinha feito um concerto com elles, e lhes ordenara, dizendo: Não temereis a outros deuses, nem vos inclinareis diante d'elles, nem os servireis, nem lhes sacrificareis.

36Mas o Senhor, que vos fez subir da terra do Egypto com grande força e com braço estendido, a este temereis, e a elle vos inclinareis, e a elle sacrificareis.

37E os estatutos, e as ordenanças, e a lei, e o mandamento, que vos escreveu, tereis cuidado de fazer todos os dias: e não temereis a outros deuses.

38E do concerto que fiz comvosco vos não esquecereis: e não temereis a outros deuses.

39Mas ao Senhor vosso Deus temereis, e elle vos livrará das mãos de todos os vossos inimigos.

40Porém elles não ouviram; antes fizeram segundo o seu primeiro costume.

41Assim estas nações temiam ao Senhor e serviam as suas imagens de esculptura: tambem seus filhos, e os filhos de seus filhos, como fizeram seus paes, assim fazem elles até ao dia de hoje.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Hoshea, the last king of Israel, is conquered by Assyria after trying a secret alliance with Egypt. Samaria falls after a three-year siege, and the people are deported, permanently ending the Northern Kingdom. The chapter gives an extensive theological summary of the sins that caused this destruction, and describes how foreigners brought into the region mixed worship of God with their own idols.

Explanation

This is one of the most theologically important chapters in the entire book, functioning as a kind of national obituary: a detailed explanation of why the Northern Kingdom ceased to exist after only about 200 years, always attributing the cause to persistent spiritual unfaithfulness, not merely to Assyrian military might. The religious mixture of Samaria's new inhabitants (fearing God but also serving idols) gave rise to the Samaritan people, whose religious tension with the Jews persisted all the way to the time of Jesus in the New Testament.

Fun facts

  • The fall of Samaria in 722 BC is confirmed by independent Assyrian records, including inscriptions of King Sargon II, who claims the city's final conquest — one of the clearest intersections between biblical history and external archaeological records.
  • The mixed religious origin of the Samaritans described here (worshiping both God and foreign idols) helps explain why, centuries later, Jews of Jesus's time considered Samaritans religiously suspect, making the parable of the 'good Samaritan' even more radical in its original context.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Reis 17:1Hoshea, son of Elah, begins to reign over Israel (the north) in Samaria in the twelfth year of Ahaz of Judah (the south), and reigns nine years — he will be the last king of the northern kingdom.
  2. 2 Reis 17:2Hoshea does what is evil, but the text notes not as much as the kings before him — a detail that does not change the chapter’s final outcome.
  3. 2 Reis 17:3Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, attacks Hoshea, who becomes his vassal, paying regular tribute.
  4. 2 Reis 17:4Assyria discovers that Hoshea has been secretly negotiating with the king of Egypt and has stopped paying tribute — as punishment for the betrayal, he is arrested.
  5. 2 Reis 17:5The Assyrian king invades the whole land and besieges Samaria, capital of Israel (the north), for three straight years.
  6. 2 Reis 17:6This is the end of the northern kingdom as a political entity: the population is carried off to distant regions of the Assyrian empire. It is the beginning of what later became known as the ten lost tribes, since most of them never returned or kept a separate identity.
  7. 2 Reis 17:7The author interrupts the historical narrative to give an extended religious assessment, listing Israel’s accumulated sins — idolatry, high places, divination, child sacrifice. It is one of the longest sermons inserted into the book of Kings, explaining the fall as an accumulated consequence, not chance.
  8. 2 Reis 17:8Israel followed the customs of the very nations the Lord had driven out before them, plus customs invented by Israel’s own kings.
  9. 2 Reis 17:9Idolatry was not confined to official shrines: the people secretly built high places in every town, from the smallest to the fortified ones.
  10. 2 Reis 17:10They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree — idolatry spread everywhere, not confined to one place.
  11. 2 Reis 17:11They burned incense at all the high places, copying exactly the nations the Lord had driven out, provoking divine anger on purpose.
  12. 2 Reis 17:12They served idols despite the Lord’s explicit and repeated command not to do exactly that.
  13. 2 Reis 17:13Even so, the Lord warned Israel and Judah again and again through all His prophets, calling them to turn from their evil ways.
  14. 2 Reis 17:14They would not listen, hardening their hearts just like their ancestors who had not trusted the Lord.
  15. 2 Reis 17:15They rejected His statutes and the covenant made with their fathers, went after worthless things and became worthless themselves, imitating the very nations they had been warned not to imitate.
  16. 2 Reis 17:16They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord, made two metal calves, an Asherah pole, bowed down to the stars, and served Baal.
  17. 2 Reis 17:17They even burned their own sons and daughters in the fire, practiced divination and sought omens, selling themselves to do evil again and again.
  18. 2 Reis 17:18Because of this the Lord is deeply angered and removes Israel from His presence, leaving standing only the tribe of Judah (the south).
  19. 2 Reis 17:19But not even Judah kept the commandments of the Lord — they too followed the customs invented by Israel, a warning that Judah was not safe from the same fate.
  20. 2 Reis 17:20The Lord rejects the whole line of Israel, afflicts them, hands them over to raiders, until He finally casts them out of His presence for good.
  21. 2 Reis 17:21The text recalls the root of the problem: when the kingdom split and Jeroboam became king of the north, he himself drove Israel away from the Lord and led them into great sin.
  22. 2 Reis 17:22The Israelites persisted in all the sins Jeroboam had committed, never turning away from them for generations.
  23. 2 Reis 17:23In the end, the Lord removes Israel from His presence exactly as He had warned through all His prophets, and the people are exiled to Assyria — an exile still going on when the book was written.
  24. 2 Reis 17:24The Assyrian practice of deporting one population and bringing in another to occupy the territory — in this case people from Babylon and other cities — is what gives rise, over time, to the Samaritan people. This mixed group will keep a tense relationship with the Jews of the south for centuries.
  25. 2 Reis 17:25At the start of the new occupation, the foreign peoples brought to Samaria did not fear the Lord, and He sends lions that kill some of them.
  26. 2 Reis 17:26The new residents tell the Assyrian king they do not know “the manner of the God of the land,” and that is why the lions are attacking.
  27. 2 Reis 17:27The king of Assyria sends back one of the exiled Israelite priests specifically to teach the new residents the custom of the god of that land.
  28. 2 Reis 17:28A priest returns, settles in Bethel, and teaches the foreign people how to fear the Lord — but in an incomplete way, mixed in with their own gods.
  29. 2 Reis 17:29An Israelite priest is sent back to teach the new residents the custom of the God of the land, but each ethnic group keeps worshiping its own gods as well. It is a picture of religious syncretism that the text treats as a problem, not a solution.
  30. 2 Reis 17:30Each people brought to Samaria keeps its own god: those from Babylon make Succoth-benoth, those from Cuthah make Nergal, those from Hamath make Ashima.
  31. 2 Reis 17:31The Avites make Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites go so far as to burn their own children in honor of Adrammelech and Anammelech, gods of Sepharvaim.
  32. 2 Reis 17:32At the same time, these peoples also feared the Lord, choosing priests from among themselves to serve at the shrines of the high places.
  33. 2 Reis 17:33This is how Samaria’s mixed religion is born: they feared the Lord and at the same time served their own gods, in the way each people had brought from their homeland.
  34. 2 Reis 17:34Down to the time the book was written, this people still followed the old customs, without fully fearing the Lord according to the Law given to the descendants of Jacob, who was named Israel.
  35. 2 Reis 17:35The Lord had made a clear covenant with Israel: do not fear other gods, do not bow down to them, do not serve them or sacrifice to them.
  36. 2 Reis 17:36Instead, they were to fear only the Lord who brought them out of Egypt with great power, bowing down and sacrificing to Him alone.
  37. 2 Reis 17:37They were to take care to keep, every day, the statutes, ordinances, law, and commandment written for them, never fearing other gods.
  38. 2 Reis 17:38They were not to forget the covenant made with them, nor to fear other gods under any circumstance.
  39. 2 Reis 17:39By fearing only the Lord, God Himself promised to deliver them from the hands of all their enemies.
  40. 2 Reis 17:40Even with all this, they did not listen and kept up their same old customs.
  41. 2 Reis 17:41In the end, these mixed nations feared the Lord and at the same time served their own carved images — and their children and grandchildren kept doing the same down to the time the book was written. This is where the Samaritans who appear later in the Gospels come from.

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