27:5 He launched a military campaign 1 against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. That year the Ammonites paid him 100 talents 2 of silver, 10,000 kors 3 of wheat, and 10,000 kors 4 of barley. The Ammonites also paid this same amount of annual tribute the next two years. 5
27:6 Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to please the Lord his God. 6 27:7 The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including all his military campaigns and his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah. 7 27:8 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. 27:9 Jotham passed away 8 and was buried in the City of David. 9 His son Ahaz replaced him as king.
1 tn Heb “he fought with.”
2 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 silver was 6,730 lbs. (3,060 kg).
3 sn As a unit of dry measure a kor was roughly equivalent to six bushels (about 220 liters).
4 tn Heb “10,000 kors of wheat and 10,000 of barley.” The unit of measure of the barley is omitted in the Hebrew text, but is understood to be “kors,” the same as the measures of wheat.
5 tn Heb “This the sons of Ammon brought to him, and in the second year and the third.”
6 tn Heb “because he established his ways before the
7 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jotham, and his battles and his ways, look, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.”
8 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
9 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.