2 Kings 22:14

22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. ¹  (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh ²  district.) They stated their business, ³ 

2 Kings 23:7

23:7 He tore down the quarters ⁴  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ⁵  for Asherah.

2 Kings 6:25

6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out. ⁶  They laid siege to it so long that ⁷  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ⁸  and a quarter of a kab ⁹  of dove’s droppings ¹⁰  for five shekels of silver. ¹¹ 

2 Kings 15:5

15:5 The Lord afflicted the king with an illness; he suffered from a skin disease ¹²  until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters, ¹³  while his son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

2 Kings 23:11

23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ¹⁴  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.) ¹⁵  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”

² tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.

³ tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”

⁴ tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”

⁵ 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.

⁷ tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”

⁸ tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”

⁹ tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

¹⁰ sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.

¹¹ tn The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 79) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.

¹² tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “he was a leper.” But see the note at 5:1.

¹¹ tn The precise meaning of בֵית הַחָפְשִׁית (bet hakhofÿshit), “house of […?],” is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 166-67.

¹³ tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ 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.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”