2Ki 17:1-6 | ESV | STEP | In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah , Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel , and he reigned nine years .

2 Kings 17:1-6

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^aHoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 ^bAgainst him came up ^cShalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery 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. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria ^dcaptured Samaria, ^eand he carried the Israelites away to Assyria ^fand placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of ^gGozan, and in the cities of ^hthe Medes.