2 Kings 17:40

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הָֽרִאשׁ֖וֹן

riʼshôwn

H7223

“the · first”

Particle, Definite Article + Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 182× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 8:13

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7221

TWOT: 2097c

first, primary, former (adjective) - former (of time) - ancestors - former things - foremost (of location) - first (in time) - first, chief (in degree) - first, before, formerly, at first (adverb)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
1 noun
1 adjective
1 pronoun
2 conjunctions
1 particle

Verb forms

שָׁמֵ֑עוּ Qal · Perfect
עֹשִֽׂים Qal · Participle Active

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 10 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Kings 17:40 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 4:28 There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
2 Kings 17:8 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
2 Kings 17:12 and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
2 Kings 17:34 To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear Yahweh, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Kings 17:40 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְלֹ֖א שָׁמֵ֑עוּ כִּ֛י אִֽם כְּמִשְׁפָּטָ֥ם הָֽרִאשׁ֖וֹן הֵ֥ם עֹשִֽׂים

However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Kings 17:40 Septuagint · lemma form

καί οὐ ἀκούω ἐπί ὁ κρίμα αὐτός ὅς αὐτός ποιέω

Neither shall you⌃ comply with their practice, which they follow.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְלָא קַבִּילוּ אֱלָהֵין כְּנִימוּסֵיהוֹן קַדְמָאֵי אִינוּן עָבְדִין:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Kings 17:40 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

17:40-41 worshiped the Lord . . . worshiped their idols: The reconstituted Samaritan religion was thoroughly syncretistic (an eclectic combination of religions), perhaps explaining why Samaritans were later regarded with suspicion and disdain (see Neh 4:1-2; 10:28-31; John 4:7-9).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(40) They—i.e., the Ephraimites.

Did.—Continued doing.

After their former manner—i.e., they clung to the old-established cultus of the calves.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

40. Howbeit they did not hearken] From the recital of God’s covenant and testimony unto Israel, the writer now turns to the new colonists of Samaria. They had heard, from the priest sent to them, an account of the Lord the God of Israel, and of what He had done for His people. For though the priest was probably one of the ministers before the calves, he would point, through them, to the God who brought Israel out of Egypt. This the writer appears to think should have moved the newcomers to regard Jehovah as far above any local deity.

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.

The Pulpit Commentary

Howbeit they did not hearken. The mixed race, with their mixed religion, though professing to be worshippers of Jehovah, paid no attention to the warnings and threatenings of the Law (ver. 34), which were to them a dead letter. But they did after their former manner; i.e. they continued to maintain the syncretism described in vers. 28-33.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is riʼshôwn (“first”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “first” (riʼshôwn) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Deuteronomy 4:28 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «שָׁמֵ֑עוּ» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.