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Excerpt from the Lexham Bible Dictionary, the most advanced Bible dictionary.

A king of Egypt and co-conspirator with Hoshea to resist the Assyrian Empire during the waning years of the northern kingdom of Israel. Identified only in 2 Kgs 17:4 and is otherwise unknown in the ancient world. Most likely Tefnakht, who ruled in Sais in the late seventh century.

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The Lexham Bible Dictionary

So, King of Egypt (סוֹא‎, so'). A king of Egypt and co-conspirator with Hoshea to resist the Assyrian Empire during the waning years of the northern kingdom of Israel. Identified only in 2 Kgs 17:4 and is otherwise unknown in the ancient world. Most likely Tefnakht, who ruled in Sais in the late seventh

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary

So (Person)

SO (PERSON) [Heb sôʾ (סֹוא)]. According to 2 Kgs 17:4, Hoshea sent without avail to “So, King of Egypt” for military aid against the Assyrians. This brief reference has given rise to a plethora of identifications and interpretations (for a general survey see LÄ 5:994). The identification with the Egyptian

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

So. A king of Egypt, mentioned once in Scripture (2 Kgs 17:4), with whom Hoshea, king of Israel, sought an alliance. This rebellious move, in part, prompted Shalmaneser V of Assyria to imprison Hoshea (v 5). It is difficult to identify So with any of the rulers of Egypt who are named in extrabiblical

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised

So [Heb. sôˊ]. The Egyptian king whom Hoshea (732–722 b.c.), the last king of Israel, was counting on for support when he revolted against Shalmaneser V (727–722 b.c.), the Assyrian emperor. When the new tribute imposed by Shalmaneser proved to be oppressive for Hoshea he approached Egypt for help

Tyndale Bible Dictionary

SO A king of Egypt, mentioned once in Scripture (2 Kgs 17:4), with whom Hoshea, king of Israel, sought an alliance. This rebellious move, in part, prompted Shalmaneser V of Assyria to imprison Hoshea (2 Kgs 17:3–5). It is difficult to identify So with any of the rulers of Egypt who are named in extrabiblical

The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated)

So, the king of Egypt to whom King Hoshea sent messengers just before the latter revolted against the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:4). The Assyrians under King Shalmaneser then attacked Samaria (725 bce). Historical identification of So is uncertain, since no name similar to this appears anywhere in the Egyptian

The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia

SO. The name (Heb. sô˒, possibly to be vocalized sĕwĕ) occurs in a passage about an Egyptian king whose aid Hoshea, the last king of Israel, sought to enlist against the Assyrians. Hoshea’s actions precipitated an Assyrian invasion which eventuated in the fall of Samaria and the northern kingdom (2

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition

SO. By conspiring with ‘So king of Egypt’ c. 726/5 bc (2 Ki. 17:4), Hoshea brought Assyrian retribution upon Israel. If So is the proper name of an Egyp. king, he must be either the last shadowy Libyan pharaoh, Osorkon IV (Aa-kheper-rē‘) c. 727–716 bc, or the de facto W-Delta ruler Tefnakht, c. 727–720

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible

So (Heb. sôʾ)A “king of Egypt” to whom Hoshea, the last king of Israel, sent messengers before rebelling against Shalmaneser V of Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:4). What sort of help he received from So, if any, is unknown, as is the identity of the Egyptian. So may refer to the city of Sais in the western Nile

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary

So [sō] (Heb. sô˒). A “king of Egypt” with whom King Hoshea of Israel was in contact, probably with a view to an alliance, at the time of his rebellion against Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:4; ca. 725 B.C.). For these actions Hoshea was quickly imprisoned by King Shalmaneser V of Assyria. The identification

Catholic Bible Dictionary

SO An abbreviated form of the name Osorkon IV (r. ca. 730–715 b.c.), the Egyptian king of the Twenty-second Dynasty who entered into a conspiracy with King Hoshea against the Assyrians (2 Kgs 17:4). The result was a sharp Assyrian retribution against Israel.

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

So. “So, king of Egypt,” is once mentioned in the Bible—2 Kings 17:4. So has been identified by different writers with the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty, called by Manetho, Sabakôn (Shebek) and Sebichôs (Shebetek).