2 Kings 23:7
Context23:7 He tore down the quarters 1 of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines 2 for Asherah.
2 Kings 23:11
Context23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses 3 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.) 4 He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. 5
1 tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”
2 tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.
3 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 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.”
5 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”