2 Kings 16:7

16:7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. ¹  March up and rescue me from the power ²  of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked ³  me.”

2 Kings 16:2

16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁴  He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. ⁵ 

2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ⁶ 

Hosea 5:13

5:13 When Ephraim saw ⁷  his sickness

and Judah saw his wound,

then Ephraim turned ⁸  to Assyria,

and begged ⁹  its great king ¹⁰  for help.

But he will not be able to heal you!

He cannot cure your wound! ¹¹ 

Hosea 14:3

14:3 Assyria cannot save us;

we will not ride warhorses.

We will never again say, ‘Our gods’

to what our own hands have made.

For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!” ¹² 

¹ tn Heb “son.” Both terms (“servant” and “son”) reflect Ahaz’s subordinate position as Tiglath-pileser’s subject.

² tn Heb “hand, palm.”

³ tn Heb “who have arisen against.”

⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵ tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God, like David his father.”

⁶ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

⁷ tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.

⁸ tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”

⁹ tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

¹⁰ tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.

¹¹ tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”

¹² tn Heb “For the orphan is shown compassion by you.” The present translation takes “orphan” as a figurative reference to Israel, which is specified in the translation for clarity.