2 Kings 17:33 - Exposition

They feared the Lord, and served their own gods. This syncretism, this mixed religion, is so surprising to the writer, and so abhorrent to his religious sentiments, that he cannot but dwell upon it, not shrinking from repeating himself (see 2 Kings 17:32 , 2 Kings 17:33 , 2 Kings 17:41 ), in order to arrest the reader's attention, and point out to him the folly and absurdity of such conduct. The practice was still going on in his own day ( 2 Kings 17:34 , 2 Kings 17:41 ), and may have had attractions for the descendants of the small Israelite population which had been left in the land. After the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence ; rather, after the manner of the nations from whom they ( i.e. the authorities) carried them away ; i.e. after the manner of their countrymen at home. The translation of the Revised Version gives the sense, while changing the construction—"after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away."