2 Kings 17:4

Old Testament Historical ASV (1901)

What does 2 Kings 17:4 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And 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.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And 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.
2 Kings 17:4 — American Standard Version

Context — 2 Kings 17

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
4And 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.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, etc.] That he was forming a scheme to rebel against him, and cast off his yoke; of this he had intelligence by spies he sent, and placed to observe him very probably: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt; to treat with him, and enter into alliance with him, to help him against, and free him from, the king of Assyria. This king of Egypt is supposed to be Sabacon the Ethiopian, who reigned in Egypt ninety years; of whom Herodotus f194 and Diodorus Siculus f195 make mention; by Theodoret he is called Adramelech the Ethiopian, who dwelt in Egypt: and brought no presents to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; did not pay…”
Read attributed excerpt →
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“found conspiracy in Hoshea--After having paid tribute for several years, Hoshea, determined on throwing off the Assyrian yoke, withheld the stipulated tribute. Shalmaneser, incensed at this rebellion, proclaimed war against Israel. This was in the sixth year of Hoshea's reign. he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt--the Sabaco of the classic historians, a famous Ethiopian who, for fifty years, occupied the Egyptian throne, and through whose aid Hoshea hoped to resist the threatened attack of the Assyrian conqueror. But Shalmaneser, marching against [Hoshea], scoured the whole country of Israel, besieged the capital Samaria, and carried the principal inhabitants into captivity in his own…”
Read attributed excerpt →
Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“So, king of Egypt, is generally identified with Shebek (730 B.C.), the Sabaco of Herodotus. Hoshea’s application to him was a return to a policy which had been successful in the reign of Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12:20 note), but had not been resorted to by any other Israelite monarch. Egypt had for many years been weak, but Sabaco was a conqueror, who at the head of the swarthy hordes of Ethiopia had invaded Egypt and made himself master of the country. In the inscriptions of Shebek he boasts to have received tribute from “the king of Shara” (Syria), which is probably his mode of noticing Hoshea’s application. References to the Egyptian proclivities of Hoshea are frequent in the prophet Hosea…”
Read attributed excerpt →
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“am 3279, bc 725 found conspiracy: Kg2 24:1, Kg2 24:20; Eze 17:13-19 king of Egypt: Kg2 18:21; Isa 30:1-4, Isa 31:1-3; Eze 17:15 brought: Kg2 18:14, Kg2 18:15 bound him: Kg2 25:7; Ch2 32:11; Psa 149:7, Psa 149:8 4 Kings (2 Kings) 17:5”
Read attributed excerpt →
Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“The king of Assyria found a conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt, and did not pay the tribute to the king of Assyria, as year by year. The Egyptian king סוא, So, possibly to be pronounced סוה, Seveh, is no doubt one of the two Shebeks of the twenty-fifth dynasty, belonging to the Ethiopian tribe; but whether he was the second king of this dynasty, Sbtk (Brugsch, hist. d'Egypte, i. p. 244), the Sevechus of Manetho, who is said to have ascended the throne, according to Wilkinson, in the year 728, as Vitringa (Isa. ii. p. 318), Gesenius, Ewald, and others suppose, or the first king of this Ethiopian dynasty, Sabako the father of Sevechus, which is the opinion…”
Read attributed excerpt →

Related study paths

Sources and verification