So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
Parallel Translations
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So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
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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.
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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 killed some of them.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 17:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 17:32 So they feared Yahweh, and also made from among themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
- 2 Kings 17:34 To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
- 2 Kings 17:41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.
- Joshua 22:25 For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in Yahweh.” ’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing Yahweh.
- 1 Kings 13:24 When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.
- 1 Kings 20:36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.
- 2 Kings 2:24 He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in Yahweh’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.
- 2 Kings 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 5:6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
- Jeremiah 10:7 Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you.
- Jeremiah 15:3 “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
- Ezekiel 14:15 “If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals;
- Ezekiel 14:21 For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!
- Daniel 6:26 “I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; “for he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is that which will not be destroyed. His dominion will be even to the end.
- Jonah 1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, they served him not: therefore, lest they…
That is, they served him not: therefore, lest they should blaspheme him, as though there were no God, because he chastised the Israelites, he showeth his mighty power among them by this strange punishment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 17:25 And [so] it was at the beginning…
2Ki 17:25 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.
Ver. 25. That they feared not the Lord.] As he expected they should some way own him in a land which he was pleased to own. To do wickedly in a land of uprightness is a foul business. {Isa 26:10}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain They feared not the Lord; they did not acknowledge…
They feared not the Lord; they did not acknowledge nor worship God in any sort.
Therefore; for this gross neglect and contempt of God, which was contrary to the principles and practices of the heathens, who used to worship the gods of the nations where they lived, and gave that honour to their false gods which here they denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own right and sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand that neither the Israelites were cast out nor they brought into that land by their valour or strength, but by God’s providence, who as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God’s service, so both could and would in his due time turn them out also, if they were guilty of the same sins.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And so it was at the beginning of their…
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord,.... Did not serve him in any manner, but their idols only, which they brought with them; whereas it was usual with Heathens to serve the gods of the country, as they reputed them, where they came, along with their own; but even this those men did not do:
therefore the Lord sent lions among them; even into their cities, into which lions sometimes came (l), especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see Jer 49:19.
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which slew some of them; this the Lord did to assert his sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, and to let them know that he could as easily clear the land of them, as they, by his permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites, Josephus (m) calls this a plague that was sent among them.
(l) Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 44. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. (m) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 1.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Therefore - For their gross neglect, and contempt of…
Therefore - For their gross neglect, and contempt of God, which was contrary to the principles and practices of the Heathens, who used to worship the gods of the nations where they lived, and gave that honour to their false Gods, which here they denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand, that neither the Israelites were cast out, nor they brought in by their valour, or strength, but by God's providence, who as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God's service; so both could, and would in his due time, turn them out also, if they were guilty of the same sins.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. The Lord sent lions among them] The…
Verse 25. The Lord sent lions among them] The land being deprived of its inhabitants, wild beasts would necessarily increase, even without any supernatural intervention; and this the superstitious new comers supposed to be a plague sent upon them, because they did not know how to worship him who was the God of the land; for they thought, like other heathens that every district had its own tutelary deity. Yet it is likely that God did send lions as a scourge on this bad people.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 17:25. And so it was that they feared…
2Ki 17:25. And so it was that they feared not the Lord — They did not acknowledge nor worship the true God in any sort. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them — For their gross neglect and contempt of God, which was contrary to the principles and practices of the heathen, who used to worship the gods of the nations where they lived, and gave that honour to their false gods which here they denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand that neither the Israelites were cast out, nor they brought in, by their valour or strength, but by God’s providence, who, as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God’s service, so both could and would, in his due time, turn them out also, if they were guilty of the same sins.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The depopulation of the country, insufficiently remedied by the…
The depopulation of the country, insufficiently remedied by the influx of foreigners, had the natural consequence of multiplying the wild beasts and making them bolder. Probably a certain number had always lurked in the jungle along the course of the Jordan Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44; and these now ventured into the hill country, and perhaps even into the cities. The colonists regarded their sufferings from the lions as a judgment upon them from “the god of the land” (2Ki 17:26; compare 1Ki 20:23 note).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lions. The Samaritan Chronicle says the fruits, though beautiful…
Lions. The Samaritan Chronicle says the fruits, though beautiful to the eye, were of a poisonous quality; and Josephus, as usual, ([Antiquities?] ix. 14.) alters the text, saying that the people were afflicted with pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, told them to worship the High God; on which account, they desired the king to send them a priest. (Calmet) --- These nations had not been accustomed to fear the Lord in their own country; but God was more offended when they exercised their idolatrous worship in that land, which he had chosen in a particular manner for himself. (Menochius) --- He suffers wickedness and infidelity to prevail to a certain point; but when his patience is exhausted, (Calmet) all nature fights for him against the wicked. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. They feared not the Lord — For they…
25. They feared not the Lord — For they were idolaters, (2Ki_17:30-31,) and knew nothing of Jehovah.
The Lord sent lions — The theocratic historian views all calamities as Divine dispensations. Compare Lev_26:22. It was very natural that wild beasts should multiply and become dangerous in a region so suddenly and so largely depopulated as was Samaria. And it is probable that the number of the new colonists was much smaller than that of the exiles, and at the beginning of their dwelling there they would be likely to cleave together, and not occupy the wilder districts.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. the Lord sent lions among them, which slew…
25. the Lord sent lions among them, which slew [R.V. killed] some of them] The word rendered ‘slew’ is not the same here as that in the next verse. This statement must be considered as the thought of the people themselves. How far it might also be shared by the writer of Kings we cannot know. These heathen people having regarded their own divinities as especially attached to certain places, would consider that Israel had also its own local deity. Him and His worship they were ignorant of, and when the wild beasts increased upon them it was a natural idea with them to regard the plague as inflicted by the god of the country. That wild beasts were not uncommon in the Holy Land at this period we can see from other places of the history, and when the land was less thickly populated, such beasts as remained would have more chance of multiplying.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (25) The Lord sent (the) lions.—In the interval between…
(25) The Lord sent (the) lions.—In the interval between the Assyrian depopulation and the re-peopling of the land, the lions indigenous to the country had multiplied naturally enough. Their ravages were understood by the colonists as a token of the wrath of the local deity on account of their neglect of his worship. The sacred writer endorses this interpretation of the incident, probably remembering Lev_26:22. (Comp. Exo_23:29; Eze_14:15.)
Which slew.—The form of the verb implies a state of things which lasted some time. Literally, and they were killing among them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And so it was at the beginning of their…
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord. They were ignorant, i.e. , of Jehovah, and paid him no religious regard. They brought with them their own forms of heathenism (see vers. 30, 31). Therefore the Lord sent lions among them. Lions are not now found in Palestine, nor indeed in any part of Syria, though they are numerous in Mesopotamia; but anciently they appear to have been tolerably common in all parts of the Holy Land. (see the comment on 1Ki_13:24) We may gather from what is said here that, though new settlers had been brought into the country by the Assyrians, yet still there had been a considerable decrease in the population, which had been favorable to the lions multiplying. The new settlers, it is to be noted, were placed in the towns (ver. 24); and it is probable that many of the country districts lay waste and desolate. Still, the writer views the great increase in the number of the lions as a Divine judgment, which it may have been, though based upon a natural circumstance. Which slew some of them. (For the great boldness of the Palestinian lion, see 1Ki_13:24 1Ki_20:36; Pro_22:13; Isa_31:4 Isa_38:13; Jer_5:6, etc.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.