2 Kings 15:19

15:19 Pul ¹  king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid ²  him ³  a thousand talents ⁴  of silver to gain his support ⁵  and to solidify his control of the kingdom. ⁶ 

2 Kings 18:20

18:20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ⁷  In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me?

2 Kings 18:35

18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁸ 

[15:19]  ¹ sn Pul was a nickname of Tiglath-pileser III (cf. 15:29). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171-72.

[15:19]  ² tn Heb “gave.”

[15:19]  ³ tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:19]  ⁴ 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 75,000 pounds of silver (cf. NCV “about seventy-four thousand pounds”); NLT “thirty-seven tons”; CEV “over thirty tons”; TEV “34,000 kilogrammes.”

[15:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.”

[15:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.”

[18:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.

[18:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?