Discovery Box2 Kings 17:13-23 
Context17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” 1 17:14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors, 2 who had not trusted the Lord their God. 17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. 3 They paid allegiance to 4 worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. 5 They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 6 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, 7 and worshiped 8 Baal. 17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, 9 and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 10
17:18 So the Lord was furious 11 with Israel and rejected them; 12 only the tribe of Judah was left. 17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. 13 17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated 14 them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 17:21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. 15 Jeroboam drove Israel away 16 from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin. 17 17:22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and did not repudiate 18 them. 17:23 Finally 19 the Lord rejected Israel 20 just as he had warned he would do 21 through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
1 tn Heb “obey my commandments and rules according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
2 tn Heb and they stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers.”
3 tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”
4 tn Heb “They went [or, ‘followed’] after.” This idiom probably does not mean much if translated literally. It is found most often in Deuteronomy or in literature related to the covenant. It refers in the first instance to loyalty to God and to His covenant or His commandments (1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the
5 tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the
6 tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the
7 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
8 tn Or “served.”
9 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
10 tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the
11 tn Heb “very angry.”
12 tn Heb “turned them away from his face.”
13 tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”
14 tn Or “afflicted.”
15 tn Heb “and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king.”
16 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the verb is נָדָא (nada’), an alternate form of נָדָה (nadah), “push away.” The marginal reading (Qere) assumes the verb נָדָח (nadakh), “drive away.”
17 tn Heb “a great sin.”
18 tn Heb “turn away from.”
19 tn Heb “until.”
20 tn Heb “the
21 tn Heb “just as he said.”
