34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor 17 David. In his twelfth year he began ridding 18 Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images.
1 tn Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”
2 tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.
3 tn Heb “the city where the
4 tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “went out before.”
6 tn Heb “when you are with him.”
7 tn Heb “he will allow himself to be found by you.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
10 tc Most Hebrew
11 tn Heb “because he was sick,” presumably referring to the wounds he received in the battle with the Syrians.
12 tn Heb “the gods of Damascus, the ones who had defeated him.” The words “he thought” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The perspective is that of Ahaz, not the narrator! Another option is that “the kings” has been accidentally omitted after “gods of.” See v. 23b.
13 tn Heb “said.”
14 tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.
15 tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.
16 tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the
17 tn Heb “father.”
18 tn Heb “purifying.”
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20 tn Heb “fathers.”