18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
18:19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? 15
18:28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, 17 “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.
19:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. 18
19:20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21
1 sn Pul was a nickname of Tiglath-pileser III (cf. 15:29). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171-72.
2 tn Heb “gave.”
3 tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn 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.”
5 tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.”
6 tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.”
7 tn Heb “listened to him.”
8 tn Heb “the king of Assyria.”
9 tn Heb “it.”
10 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מוּסַךְ (musakh; Qere) / מִיסַךְ (misakh; Kethib) is uncertain. For discussion see HALOT 557 s.v. מוּסַךְ and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189-90.
11 tn Heb “that they built.”
12 sn It is doubtful that Tiglath-pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 190, 193.
13 tn Heb “in all which he went out [to do], he was successful.”
14 tn Heb “and did not serve him.”
15 tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”
16 tn Heb “exchange pledges.”
17 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and he spoke and said.”
18 tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”
19 tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”
20 tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”
21 tn Heb “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in the parallel passage in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense, “because.”