2 Kings 18:23

18:23 Now make a deal ¹  with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

2 Kings 18:33-34

18:33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ²  18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? ³  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ⁴  from my power? ⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “exchange pledges.”

² tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations really rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the main verb. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

³ tn The parallel passage in Isa 36:19 omits “Hena and Ivvah.” The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

⁴ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

⁵ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 33, 35).