2 Kings 17:6
Who took Samaria, and when?
The witnesses agree that "the king of Assyria" took Samaria in Hoshea's ninth year. Kings names Shalmaneser as the besieger; Sargon II claims the conquest in his own inscriptions. The question is historical, not textual.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Events of 727–722 BC; later copy
Babylonian Chronicle 1
How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.
"Shalmaneser… ravaged Samaria (Shamara'in)."
Source: S. H. Park, "A New Historical Reconstruction of the Fall of Samaria," Biblica 93 (2012) ↗
c. 720–706 BC
Sargon II inscriptions (Khorsabad, Nimrud Prism)
How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.
"I besieged and conquered Samaria, led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants."
Source: Oracc, Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) ↗
Unknown (debated)
Original Kings
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD
Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Salmanasar prit Samarie
Shalmaneser took Samaria
The library's Greek names Shalmaneser here. One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
cepit rex Assyriorum Samariam
"The king of Assyria."
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
לָכַד מֶלֶךְ־אַשּׁוּר אֶת־שֹׁמְרוֹן
the king of Assyria captured Samaria
Unnamed; Shalmaneser is named in 17:3.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
the king of Assyria took Samaria
What changed, and why
Two leading models: one conquest by Shalmaneser V in 722 BC, later claimed by Sargon; or a conquest in 722 and a second after a revolt in 720 BC by Sargon. The library's Greek naming Shalmaneser in 17:6 is noted; the Hebrew leaves the king unnamed.
What the evidence shows
- Sargon II claims the conquest of Samaria.
Source: Oracc, Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) ↗
- Samaria was conquered twice (722 and 720 BC).
Source: S. H. Park, "A New Historical Reconstruction of the Fall of Samaria," Biblica 93 (2012) ↗
Sources
Related lessons
- The Fall of Samaria →Hoshea, Assyria's vassal, stops paying tribute and seeks help from So king of Egypt. Shalmaneser V imprisons him and besieges Samaria for three years; in Hoshea's ninth year "the king of Assyria" takes the city and deports Israel to Halah, Habor and the cities of the Medes. A long sermon explains why. Assyria settles people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim in Samaria; a priest is sent back to teach them; they fear the LORD and serve their own gods.
- Evidence Case: The Assyrian Archive →From 853 to about 667 BC, Assyrian kings named at least eight kings of Israel and Judah in their inscriptions. These records confirm names, dates and the basic course of events, and they show the same history from the empire's side, with its own propaganda.
- Evidence Case: The Two Exiles →Israel was deported by Assyria (732 and 722–720 BC) and Judah by Babylon (597, 587/586 and 582 BC). The two empires used deportation differently, and the two peoples' fates differed. Neither land was emptied.