2 Kings 15

Azariah’s Reign over Judah

1 In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Amaziah’s son Azariah became king over Judah. 2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem.#map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem. 3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.#tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord, according to all which Amaziah his father had done.” 4 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. 5 The Lord afflicted the king with an illness; he suffered from a skin disease#tn Traditionally, “he was a leper.” But see the note at 5:1. until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,#tn The precise meaning of בֵית הַחָפְשִׁית (bet hakhofÿshit), “house of […?],” is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 166-67. while his son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

6 The rest of the events of Azariah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Azariah, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?” 7 Azariah passed away#tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” and was buried#tn Heb “and they buried him.” with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Jotham replaced him as king.

Zechariah’s Reign over Israel

8 In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria#map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. for six months. 9 He did evil in the sight of#tn Heb “in the eyes of.” the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not repudiate#tn Heb “turn away from.” the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him; he assassinated him in Ibleam#tc The MT reads, “and he struck him down before the people and killed him” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). However, the reading קָבָל עָם (qaval ’am), “before the people,” is problematic to some because קָבָל is a relatively late Aramaic term. Nevertheless, the Aramaic term qobel certainly antedates the writing of Kings. The bigger problem seems to be the unnecessary intrusion of an Aramaic word at all here. Most interpreters prefer to follow Lucian’s Greek version and read “in Ibleam” (בְיִבְלְעָם, bÿivle’am). Cf. NAB, TEV. and took his place as king. 11 The rest of the events of Zechariah’s reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.” 12 His assassination brought to fulfillment the Lord’s word to Jehu,#tn Heb “It was the word of the Lord which he spoke to Jehu, saying.” “Four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.”#tn “sons of four generations will sit for you on the throne of Israel.” sn See the note at 2 Kgs 10:30. That is exactly what happened.#tn Heb “and it was so.”

13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah’s#sn Azariah was also known by the name Uzziah. reign over Judah. He reigned for one month#tn Heb “a month of days.” in Samaria. 14 Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to#tn Heb “and came to.” Samaria and attacked Shallum son of Jabesh.#tn Heb “went up from Tirzah and arrived in Samaria and attacked Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria.” He killed him and took his place as king. 15 The rest of the events of Shallum’s reign, including the conspiracy he organized, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he conspired, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.” 16 At that time Menahem came from Tirzah and attacked Tiphsah. He struck down all who lived in the city and the surrounding territory, because they would not surrender.#tn Heb “then Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, for it would not open, and he attacked.”tn Instead of “Tiphsah,” the LXX has “Tirzah,” while Lucian’s Greek version reads “Tappuah.” For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171. He even ripped open the pregnant women.

Menahem’s Reign over Israel

17 In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel. He reigned for twelve years in Samaria.#map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. 18 He did evil in the sight of#tn Heb “in the eyes of.” the Lord; he did not repudiate#tn Heb “turn away from.” the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.#tc The MT of v. 18 ends with the words, “all his days.” If this phrase is taken with what precedes, then one should translate, “[who encouraged Israel to sin] throughout his reign.” However, it may be preferable to emend the text to בְיֹמָיו (bÿyomav), “in his days,” and join the phrase to what follows. The translation assumes this change.

During his reign, 19 Pul#sn Pul was a nickname of Tiglath-pileser III (cf. 15:29). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171-72. king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid#tn Heb “gave.” him#tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons. a thousand talents#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.” of silver to gain his support#tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.” and to solidify his control of the kingdom.#tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.” 20 Menahem got this silver by taxing all the wealthy men in Israel; he took fifty shekels of silver from each one of them and paid it to the king of Assyria.#tn Heb “and Menahem brought out the silver over Israel, over the prominent men of means, to give to the king of Assyria, fifty shekels of silver for each man.” Then the king of Assyria left; he did not stay there in the land.

21 The rest of the events of Menahem’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Menahem, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?” 22 Menahem passed away#tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” and his son Pekahiah replaced him as king.

Pekahiah’s Reign over Israel

23 In the fiftieth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem’s son Pekahiah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria#map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. for two years. 24 He did evil in the sight of#tn Heb “in the eyes of.” the Lord; he did not repudiate#tn Heb “turn away from.” the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 25 His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him. He and fifty Gileadites assassinated Pekahiah, as well as Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the fortress of the royal palace.#tn Heb “and he struck him down in Samaria in the fortress of the house of the king, Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men from the sons of the Gileadites, and they killed him.”sn The precise identity of Argob and Arieh, as well as their relationship to the king, are uncertain. The usual assumption is that they were officials assassinated along with Pekahiah, or that they were two of the more prominent Gileadites involved in the revolt. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 173. Pekah then took his place as king.

26 The rest of the events of Pekahiah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Pekahiah, and all which he did, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.”

Pekah’s Reign over Israel

27 In the fifty-second year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria#map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. for twenty years. 28 He did evil in the sight of#tn Heb “in the eyes of.” the Lord; he did not repudiate#tn Heb “turn away from.” the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor,#map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-D3; Map3-A2; Map4-C1. Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people#tn Heb “them.” to Assyria. 30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He assassinated him#tn Heb “and struck him down and killed him.” and took his place as king, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah.

31 The rest of the events of Pekah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Pekah, and all which he did, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.”

Jotham’s Reign over Judah

32 In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.#map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.#tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord, according to all which Uzziah his father had done.” 35 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.

36 The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.#tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jotham, and that which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?” 37 In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah.#tn Heb “the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin…and Pekahiah….” 38 Jotham passed away#tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz replaced him as king.

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