2 Kings 15:19

15:19 Pul¹ king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid² him³ a thousand talents⁴ of silver to gain his support⁵ and to solidify his control of the kingdom.⁶

2 Kings 15:29

15:29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor,⁷ Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people⁸ to Assyria.

¹sn Pul was a nickname of Tiglath-pileser III (cf. 15:29). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171-72.

²tn Heb “gave.”

³tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “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 to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 75,000 pounds of silver (cf. NCV “about seventy-four thousand pounds”); NLT “thirty-seven tons”; CEV “over thirty tons”; TEV “34,000 kilogrammes.”

⁵tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.”

⁶tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.”

⁷map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-D3; Map3-A2; Map4-C1.

⁸tn Heb “them.”