3:8 He made the most holy place; 7 its length was 30 feet, 8 corresponding to the width of the temple, and its width 30 feet. 9 He plated it with 600 talents 10 of fine gold.
3:15 In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length 11 of 52½ feet, 12 with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high. 13
12:9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.
15:16 King Asa also removed Maacah his grandmother 31 from her position as queen mother 32 because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and crushed and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
22:1 The residents of Jerusalem 37 made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. 38 So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.
25:14 When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people 40 of Seir and made them his personal gods. 41 He bowed down before them and offered them sacrifices.
26:11 Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official.
31:3 The king contributed 44 some of what he owned for burnt sacrifices, including the morning and evening burnt sacrifices and the burnt sacrifices made on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other appointed times prescribed 45 in the law of the Lord.
1 tn Or “high place.”
2 tn Heb “the tent of meeting of God.”
3 sn The tabernacle was located in Gibeon; see 1 Chr 21:29.
4 tn Heb “sought [or “inquired of”] him.”
5 tn Heb “you word.”
6 tn Or “be firm, established.”
7 tn Heb “the house of the holy place of holy places.”
8 tn Heb “twenty cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), this would give a length of 30 feet (9 m).
9 tc Heb “twenty cubits.” Some suggest adding, “and its height twenty cubits” (see 1 Kgs 6:20). The phrase could have been omitted by homoioteleuton.
10 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold plating was 40,380 lbs. (18,360 kg).
11 sn The figure given here appears to refer to the combined length of both pillars (perhaps when laid end-to-end on the ground prior to being set up; cf. v. 17); the figure given for the height of the pillars in 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21 is half this (i.e., eighteen cubits).
12 tc The Syriac reads “eighteen cubits” (twenty-seven feet). This apparently reflects an attempt at harmonization with 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21.
13 tn Heb “and he made before the house two pillars, thirty-five cubits [in] length, and the plated capital which was on its top [was] five cubits.” The significance of the measure “thirty-five cubits” (52.5 feet or 15.75 m, assuming a cubit of 18 inches) for the “length” of the pillars is uncertain. According to 1 Kgs 7:15, each pillar was eighteen cubits (27 feet or 8.1 m) high. Perhaps the measurement given here was taken with the pillars lying end-to-end on the ground before they were set up.
14 tn Heb “He made the sea, cast.”
sn The large bronze basin known as “The Sea” was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (see v. 6; cf. Exod 30:17-21).
15 tn Heb “ten cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the diameter would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).
16 tn Heb “five cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 7.5 feet (2.25 m).
17 tn Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”
18 sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).
19 tn Heb “in Horeb where.”
20 tn Heb “I have heard.”
21 tn Heb “temple of sacrifice.” This means the
22 tn Heb “tracks.” The parallel text in 1 Kgs 10:12 has a different term whose meaning is uncertain: “supports,” perhaps “banisters” or “parapets.”
23 tn Two types of stringed instruments are specifically mentioned in the Hebrew text, the כִּנּוֹר (kinnor, “zither”) and נֶבֶל (nevel, “harp”).
24 tn Heb “there was not seen like these formerly in the land of Judah.”
25 tn The Hebrew text has simply “300,” with no unit of measure given.
26 sn This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest. See 1 Kgs 7:2.
27 tn Heb “because this turn of events was from God.”
28 tn Heb “so that the
29 tn Heb “the kingdom of the
30 tn Or “horde”; or “multitude.”
31 tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses “father” and “mother” for grandparents and even more remote ancestors.
32 tn The Hebrew term גְּבִירָה (gÿvirah) can denote “queen” or “queen mother” depending on the context. Here the latter is indicated, since Maacah was the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah.
33 tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”
34 tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”
35 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
36 tn Heb “and they burned for him a large fire, very great.”
37 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
38 tn Heb “for all the older [ones] the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed.”
39 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoiada the priest, cf. v. 8) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “sons.”
41 tn Heb “caused them to stand for him as gods.”
42 tn Heb “and his name went out to a distant place, for he did extraordinarily to be helped until he was strong.”
43 tn Heb “and he made them [an object] of dread and devastation and hissing.”
44 tn Heb “the portion of the king [was].”
45 tn Heb “as written.”
46 tn Heb “and from the hand of all.”
47 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he led him from all around.” However, the present translation assumes an emendation to וַיָּנַח לָהֶם מִסָּבִיב (vayyanakh lahem missaviv, “and he gave rest to them from all around”). See 2 Chr 15:15 and 20:30.
48 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הֲַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
49 tn Or “served.”
50 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
51 tn Or “served.”
52 tn Or “burned incense.”
53 tn Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The present translation assumes this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods”). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”
54 tn Heb “and he caused to stand everyone who was found in Jerusalem and Benjamin.”
55 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoahaz) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
56 tn Heb “sent and brought him.”
57 tn Heb “and he made Zedekiah his brother king.” According to the parallel text in 2 Kgs 24:17, Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle, not his brother. Therefore many interpreters understand אח here in its less specific sense of “relative” (NEB “made his father’s brother Zedekiah king”; NASB “made his kinsman Zedekiah king”; NIV “made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king”; NRSV “made his brother Zedekiah king”).
58 tn Or “made him swear an oath.”
59 tn Heb “and he stiffened his neck and strengthened his heart from returning.”