2 Kings 23:5-6

23:5 He eliminated ¹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ³  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) 23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ⁴  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ⁵ 

2 Kings 23:11

23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ⁶  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ⁷  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ⁸ 

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¹ tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”

² tn Or “burn incense.”

³ tn Or “burned incense.”

⁴ tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”

⁵ tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”

tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.

⁶ tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁷ 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.”

⁸ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”