Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Then the king of Assyria went through all the land and came up to Samaria, shutting it in with his forces for three years.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Besieged it three years - It must have been well fortified, well provisioned, and well defended, to have held out so long.
All the land - The second invasion of Shalmaneser (723 B.C., his fifth year), is here contrasted with the first, as extending to the whole country, whereas the first had afflicted only a part.
Three years - From the fourth to the sixth of Hezekiah, and from the seventh to the ninth of Heshea; two years, therefore, according to our reckoning, but three, according to that of the Hebrews. This was a long time for so small a place to resist the Assyrians but Samaria was favorably situated on a steep hill; probably Sabaco made some attempts to relieve his vassal; the war with Tyre must have distracted Shalmaneser; and there is reason to believe that before the capture was effected a revolt had broken out at Nineveh which must have claimed Shalmaneser's chief attention, though it did not induce him to abandon his enterprise.