2 Chronicles 29:25

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.)

2 Chronicles 29:1

Hezekiah Consecrates the Temple

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.

2 Chronicles 15:16

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.

2 Chronicles 16:4-6

16:4 Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. ⁷  They conquered ⁸  Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, ⁹  and all the storage cities of Naphtali. 16:5 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying ¹⁰  Ramah and abandoned the project. ¹¹  16:6 King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. ¹²  He used the materials to build up ¹³  Geba and Mizpah.

2 Chronicles 16:1

16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah. ¹⁴ 

2 Chronicles 16:1

16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah. ¹⁵ 

2 Chronicles 23:5

23:5 Another third of you will be stationed at the royal palace and still another third at the Foundation Gate. All the others ¹⁶  will stand in the courtyards of the Lord’s temple.

2 Chronicles 23:1

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.

2 Chronicles 25:1-7

Amaziah’s Reign

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 

Ezra 3:10-11

3:10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ³³  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ³⁴  King David of Israel. ³⁵  3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ³⁶  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“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.

[29:25]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (King Hezekiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:25]  ² tn Or “seer.”

[29:1]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[29:1]  ⁴ tn The parallel passage in 2 Kgs 18:2 has “Abi.”

[15:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses “father” and “mother” for grandparents and even more remote ancestors.

[15:16]  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.

[16:4]  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.”

[16:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “They struck down.”

[16:4]  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.

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “building.”

[16:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he caused his work to cease.”

[16:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”

[16:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he built with them.”

[16:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”

[16:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”

[23:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all the people.”

[23:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “covenant.”

[25:1]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[25:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a complete heart.”

[25:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “when the kingdom was secure upon him.”

[25:3]  ²² tn Heb “he killed his servants, the ones who had struck down the king, his father.”

[25:4]  ²³ tn Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which the Lord commanded, saying.”

[25:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “on account of sons.”

[25:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “on account of fathers.”

[25:4]  ²⁶ sn This law is recorded in Deut 24:16.

[25:5]  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.

[25:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “young men going out to war.”

[25:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “holding a spear and a shield.”

[25:6]  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).

[25:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “man of God.”

[25:7]  ³² tn Heb “Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.”

[3:10]  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).

[3:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “according to the hands of.”

[3:10]  ³⁵ sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.

[3:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “great.”