2 Kings 23:29-30

23:29 During Josiah’s reign Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward ¹  the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho ²  killed him at Megiddo ³  when he saw him. 23:30 His servants transported his dead body ⁴  from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head, ⁵  and made him king in his father’s place.

[23:29]  ¹ tn Heb “went up to.” The idiom עַל…עָלָה (’alah …’al) can sometimes mean “go up against,” but here it refers to Necho’s attempt to aid the Assyrians in their struggle with the Babylonians.

[23:29]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Necho) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:29]  ³ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[23:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “him, dead.”

[23:30]  ⁵ tn Or “anointed him.”