2 Kings 14:23-29

Jeroboam II’s Reign over Israel

14:23 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Judah’s King Amaziah, son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel. He reigned for forty-one years in Samaria. ¹  14:24 He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord; he did not repudiate ³  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 14:25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, ⁴  in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through ⁵  his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. 14:26 The Lord saw Israel’s intense suffering; ⁶  everyone was weak and incapacitated and Israel had no deliverer. ⁷  14:27 The Lord had not decreed that he would blot out Israel’s memory ⁸  from under heaven, ⁹  so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.

14:28 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including all his accomplishments, his military success in restoring Israelite control over Damascus and Hamath, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁰  14:29 Jeroboam passed away ¹¹  and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹²  His son Zechariah replaced him as king.

[14:23]  ¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[14:24]  ² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[14:24]  ³ tn Heb “turn away from all.”

[14:25]  ⁴ tn The phrases “in the north” and “in the south” are added in the translation for clarification.

[14:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “which he spoke by the hand of.”

[14:26]  ⁶ tc Heb “for the Lord saw the very bitter affliction of Israel.” This translation assumes an emendation of מֹרֶה (moreh), which is meaningless here, to ַהמַּר (hammar), the adjective “bitter” functioning attributively with the article prefixed. This emendation is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate. Another option would be מַר הוּא (mar hu’), “it was bitter.”

[14:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “[there was] none but the restrained, and [there was] none but the abandoned, and there was no deliverer for Israel.” On the meaning of the terms עָצוּר (’atsur) and עָזוּב (’azur), see the note at 1 Kgs 14:10.

[14:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “name.”

[14:27]  ⁹ tn The phrase “from under heaven” adds emphasis to the verb “blot out” and suggest total annihilation. For other examples of the verb מָחָה (makhah), “blot out,” combined with “from under heaven,” see Exod 17:14; Deut 9:14; 25:19; 29:20.

[14:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam, and all which he did and his strength, [and] how he fought and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?” The phrase “to Judah” is probably not original; it may be a scribal addition by a Judahite scribe who was trying to link Jeroboam’s conquests with the earlier achievements of David and Solomon, who ruled in Judah. The Syriac Peshitta has simply “to Israel.” M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 162) offer this proposal, but acknowledge that it is “highly speculative.”

[14:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[14:29]  ¹² tn The MT has simply “with the kings of Israel,” which appears to stand in apposition to the immediately preceding “with his fathers.” But it is likely that the words “and he was buried in Samaria” have been accidentally omitted from the text. See 13:13 and 14:16.