29:25 King Hezekiah 1 stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals and stringed instruments, just as David, Gad the king’s prophet, 2 and Nathan the prophet had ordered. (The Lord had actually given these orders through his prophets.)
29:1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 3 His mother was Abijah, 4 the daughter of Zechariah.
15:16 King Asa also removed Maacah his grandmother 5 from her position as queen mother 6 because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and crushed and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
23:1 In the seventh year Jehoiada made a bold move. He made a pact 17 with the officers of the units of hundreds: Azariah son of Jehoram, Ishmael son of Jehochanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri.
25:1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 18 His mother was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem. 25:2 He did what the Lord approved, 19 but not with wholehearted devotion. 20
25:3 When he had secured control of the kingdom, 21 he executed the servants who had assassinated his father. 22 25:4 However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, 23 “Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do, 24 and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do. 25 A man must be executed only for his own sin.” 26
25:5 Amaziah assembled the people of Judah 27 and assigned them by families to the commanders of units of a thousand and the commanders of units of a hundred for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and up and discovered there were 300,000 young men of fighting age 28 equipped with spears and shields. 29 25:6 He hired 100,000 Israelite warriors for a hundred talents 30 of silver.
25:7 But a prophet 31 visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. 32
“For he is good;
his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”
All the people gave a loud 37 shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (King Hezekiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Or “seer.”
3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
4 tn The parallel passage in 2 Kgs 18:2 has “Abi.”
5 tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses “father” and “mother” for grandparents and even more remote ancestors.
6 tn The Hebrew term גְּבִירָה (gÿvirah) can denote “queen” or “queen mother” depending on the context. Here the latter is indicated, since Maacah was the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah.
7 tn Heb “and Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of the armies which belonged to him against the cities of Israel.”
8 tn Heb “They struck down.”
9 sn In the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 15:20, this city’s name appears as Abel Beth Maacah. These appear to be variant names for the same place.
10 tn Heb “building.”
11 tn Heb “and he caused his work to cease.”
12 tn Heb “and King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”
13 tn Heb “and he built with them.”
14 tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”
15 tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”
16 tn Heb “all the people.”
17 tn Or “covenant.”
18 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
19 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
20 tn Heb “a complete heart.”
21 tn Heb “when the kingdom was secure upon him.”
22 tn Heb “he killed his servants, the ones who had struck down the king, his father.”
23 tn Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which the
24 tn Heb “on account of sons.”
25 tn Heb “on account of fathers.”
26 sn This law is recorded in Deut 24:16.
27 tn Heb “Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy here for the people of Judah.
28 tn Heb “young men going out to war.”
29 tn Heb “holding a spear and a shield.”
30 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the silver was 6,730 lbs. (3,060 kg).
31 tn Heb “man of God.”
32 tn Heb “Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.”
33 sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).
34 tn Heb “according to the hands of.”
35 sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.
36 tn Heb “they answered.”
37 tn Heb “great.”