Hoshea
King of Israel
Hoshea (Biblical Hebrew: הוֹשֵׁעַ, romanized: Hōšēaʿ, lit. 'salvation'; Akkadian: 𒀀𒌑𒋛𒀪 A'úsiʾ [a-ú-si-ʾ]; Latin: Osee) was the nineteenth and last king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (or a puppet king) and son of Elah (not the Israelite king Elah). William F. Albright dated his reign to 732–721 BCE, while Edwin R. Thiele offered the dates 732–723 BCE.
Hoshea, a trusted advisor and companion to King Pekah of Israel, seized power during a time of great turmoil. As the Assyrian Empire invaded Israel's eastern territories, Pekah's grip on the throne began to slip. Sensing an opportunity, Hoshea conspired against his master. In the 20th year of Pekah's reign, Hoshea struck, assassinating the king during a battle against the Assyrians and the children of the east. The Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser III, took advantage of Israel's weakened state and installed Hoshea as the new king. However, Hoshea's reign was short-lived, and he soon found himself at the mercy of the Assyrians.
Despite paying tribute to the Assyrian Empire, Hoshea eventually stopped making payments, hoping to assert his independence. This decision proved disastrous. The Assyrian king, Shalmaneser V, laid siege to Samaria, the capital of Israel, and after a three-year siege, the city fell in 722 BCE. The Assyrians then deported many of the Israelites to other parts of their empire, marking the end of the Kingdom of Israel.
“Hoshea” enters the record as king of Israel. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hoshea, King and Israel can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hoshea” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hoshea, King and Israel provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q319038. VIAF identifies the subject as 308280276. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hoshea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.