Discovery Box2 Kings 18:13-17
Context18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 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
[18:14] 1 tn Or “I have done wrong.”
[18:14] 2 tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”
[18:14] 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.
[18:15] 4 tn Heb “that was found.”
[18:16] 5 tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the
[18:17] 6 sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.
[18:17] 7 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
