Discovery Box2 Kings 22:3-9 
Context22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: 1 22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down 2 the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. 22:5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen 3 assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it, 4 22:6 including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work. 5 22:7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.” 6
22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, 7 “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple 8 and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.”
1 tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”
2 tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.
3 tn Heb “doers of the work.”
4 tn Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the
5 tn Heb “and to buy wood and chiseled stone to repair the house.”
6 tn Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”
7 tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”
8 tn Heb “that was found in the house.”
