But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent envoys to King So of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria confined him and imprisoned him — Hoshea's attempt to forge an alliance with Egypt (presumably through King So, possibly Osorkon IV) while withholding tribute from Assyria represents a desperate gambit for independence. The failure of this strategy is immediate: Shalmaneser detects the treachery and imprisons Hoshea. The imprisonment (וַיַּצַּר אוֹתוֹ וַיִּשְׁמְרֵהוּ בַּבַּיִת, *way-yatzar oto way-yishmerhu ba-bayit*) places the last northern king in captivity. Hoshea's failed rebellion precipitates the final Assyrian response: the siege of Samaria.

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