2 Kings 16:17-18

16:17 King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took “The Sea” ¹  down from the bronze bulls that supported it ²  and put it on the pavement. 16:18 He also removed the Sabbath awning ³  that had been built ⁴  in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria. ⁵ 

2 Kings 25:13-17

25:13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the “The Sea.” ⁶  They took the bronze to Babylon. 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, ⁷  trimming shears, ⁸  pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. ⁹  25:15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers ¹⁰  and basins. 25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple – including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” ¹¹  and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed. 25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet ¹²  high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet ¹³  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

[16:17]  ¹ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.

[16:17]  ² tn Heb “that [were] under it.”

[16:18]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מוּסַךְ (musakh; Qere) / מִיסַךְ (misakh; Kethib) is uncertain. For discussion see HALOT 557 s.v. מוּסַךְ and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189-90.

[16:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “that they built.”

[16:18]  ⁵ sn It is doubtful that Tiglath-pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 190, 193.

[25:13]  ⁶ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.

[25:14]  ⁷ sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.

[25:14]  ⁸ sn These were used to trim the wicks.

[25:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”

[25:15]  ¹⁰ sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.

[25:16]  ¹¹ tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (vÿha-) on וְהַבָּקָר (vÿhabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (vÿhammÿkhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.

[25:17]  ¹² tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.

[25:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”