1:17 He died just as the Lord had prophesied through Elijah. 1 In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son. 2
9:27 When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off 12 up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, “Shoot him too.” They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam. 13 He fled to Megiddo 14 and died there.
17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” 23
20:20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring 24 water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 25
23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 31 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 32 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 33 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
23:24 Josiah also got rid of 38 the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 39 the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 40 and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 41 recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.
1 tn Heb “according to the word of the
2 tn Heb “Jehoram replaced him as king…because he had no son.” Some ancient textual witnesses add “his brother,” which was likely added on the basis of the statement later in the verse that Ahaziah had no son.
3 tn Heb “went and sent.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoshaphat) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “I will go up – like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”
6 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
7 tn Heb “to see.”
8 tn The words “my chariot” are added for clarification.
9 tn Heb “and he hitched up his chariot.”
10 tn Heb “each in his chariot and they went out.”
11 tn Heb “they found him.”
12 tn Heb “and Ahaziah king of Judah saw and fled.”
13 tn After Jehu’s order (“kill him too”), the MT has simply, “to the chariot in the ascent of Gur which is near Ibleam.” The main verb in the clause, “they shot him” (וַיִּכְהוּ, vayyikhhu), has been accidentally omitted by virtual haplography/homoioteleuton. Note that the immediately preceding form הַכֻּהוּ (hakkuhu), “shoot him,” ends with the same suffix.
14 map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.
15 tn Heb “found.”
16 tn Or “brothers.”
17 tn Heb “for the peace of.”
18 tn Heb “the animal of the field.”
19 sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).
20 tc The MT has the plural form of the verb, but the final vav (ו) is virtually dittographic. The word that immediately follows in the Hebrew text begins with a yod (י). The form should be emended to the singular, which is consistent in number with the verb (“he broke down”) that follows.
21 tn Heb “came to.”
22 tn Heb “four hundred cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
23 tn Heb “obey my commandments and rules according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
24 tn Heb “and he brought.”
25 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Hezekiah, and all his strength, and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water to the city, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
26 tn Or “inquire of.”
27 tn Heb “concerning.”
28 tn Heb “for great is the anger of the
29 tn Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”
30 tn Heb “read in their ears.”
31 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
32 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
33 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.
34 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”
36 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
37 tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.
38 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.
39 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.
40 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
41 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”