2 Kings 17:4

found conspiracy in Hoshea No doubt the tributary princes were watched by Assyrian residents in their courts, and the news of negotiations with a foreign power would soon be sent from Samaria to Shalmaneser.

to So king of Egypt The LXX. writes the king's name Σηγώρ. The identification of this monarch is somewhat doubtful. The most probable supposition is that he is the same with either Shebek or Shebetek, the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty. By Manetho this king is named Sabachon, and in the Assyrian records (Smith, Assyrian Canon, p. 126) there appears an Egyptian general, whose name is represented as Sibakhior Sibahe. He is represented as helping the king of Gaza against Assyria and being overthrown. This may be the person here spoken of. We can see at any rate that Egyptian influence extended as far as Palestine at this period, and therefore that Hoshea might very likely be tempted to seek aid in that quarter in the hope that he would find a less grasping superior lord than Shalmaneser.

and brought[R.V. offered] no present As the word for -present" here and in verse 3 is the usual one for the -meal-offering" (see note above) so the verb employed here is that which is constant in the accounts of -offering" sacrifices. Hence the change. The verb in its application to sacrifices is found Genesis 8:20; Genesis 22:2; Exodus 24:5, et sacpe.

ashe had done year by year The LXX. has -in that year".

the king of Assyria shut him up The LXX. gives ἐπολιόρκησεν αὐτόν, i.e. -besieged him", referring the shutting up to the effect of a siege. But this sense is not warranted by the use of the verb elsewhere. Cf. Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 36:5; Jeremiah 39:15, which all refer to imprisonment.