2 Chronicles 28:13-21

28:13 They said to them, “Don’t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the Lord? ¹  Our guilt is already great and the Lord is very angry at Israel.” ²  28:14 So the soldiers released the captives and the plunder before the officials and the entire assembly. 28:15 Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked. ³  So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. ⁴  They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. ⁵  They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, ⁶  the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.

28:16 At that time King Ahaz asked the king ⁷  of Assyria for help. 28:17 The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried off captives. 28:18 The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands ⁸  and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages. 28:19 The Lord humiliated ⁹  Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, ¹⁰  for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very ¹¹  unfaithful to the Lord. 28:20 King Tiglath-pileser ¹²  of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support. ¹³  28:21 Ahaz gathered riches ¹⁴  from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.

¹ tn Heb “for to the guilt of the Lord upon us you are saying to add to our sins and our guilty deeds.”

² tn Heb “for great is [the] guilt to us and rage of anger is upon Israel.”

³ tn Heb “and the men who were designated by names arose and took the captives and all their naked ones they clothed from the loot.”

⁴ tn Heb “and poured oil on them.”

⁵ tn Heb “and they led them on donkeys, with respect to everyone stumbling.”

⁶ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

⁵ tc Most Hebrew mss read the plural, “kings,” but one Hebrew ms, the LXX and Vulgate read the singular “king.” Note the singular in v. 20.

⁷ tn Heb “Shephelah.”

⁹ tn Or “subdued.”

¹⁰ sn That is, “of Judah.” Frequently in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is substituted for “Judah.”

¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the degree of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness.

¹¹ tn Heb “Tilgath-pilneser,” a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser.

¹² tn Heb “and he caused him distress and did not strengthen him.”

¹³ tn Heb “divided up,” but some read חִלֵּץ (khillets, “despoiled”).