2 Kings 23:4

23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, 1  and the guards 2  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of 3  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. 4  The king 5  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces 6  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 7 

2 Kings 23:15

23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel 8  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. 9  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. 10 

2 Kings 24:13

24:13 Nebuchadnezzar 11  took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned.

2 Kings 25:16

25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple – including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” 12  and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed.

1 tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.

2 tn Or “doorkeepers.”

3 tn Heb “for.”

4 tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).

5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

6 tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.

7 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

8 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

9 tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.

10 tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nebuchadnezzar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

12 tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (vÿha-) on וְהַבָּקָר (vÿhabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (vÿhammÿkhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.