2 Kings 18:14-17

18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. 1  If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” 2  So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents 3  of silver and thirty talents of gold. 18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in 4  the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated 5  and gave them to the king of Assyria.

18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser 6  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, 7  along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went 8  and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 9 

1 tn Or “I have done wrong.”

2 tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”

3 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “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 to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.

4 tn Heb “that was found.”

5 tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”

6 sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

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

8 tn Heb “and they went up and came.”

9 tn Heb “the field of the washer.”