2 Raja-raja 12:4

12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal ¹  all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, ²  the silver received from those who have made vows, ³  and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

2 Raja-raja 18:4

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ⁵  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ⁶  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 18:26

18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ⁸  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ⁹  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

[12:4]  ¹ tn The words “I place at your disposal” are added in the translation for clarification.

[12:4]  ² tn Heb “the silver of passing over a man.” The precise meaning of the phrase is debated, but עָבַר (’avar), “pass over,” probably refers here to counting, suggesting the reference is to a census conducted for taxation purposes. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 137.

[12:4]  ³ tn Heb “the silver of persons, his valuation.” The precise meaning of the phrase is uncertain, but parallels in Lev 27 suggest that personal vows are referred to here. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 137.

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the silver which goes up on the heart of a man to bring to the house of the Lord.”

[18:4]  ⁵ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

[18:4]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[18:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “until those days.”

[18:4]  ⁷ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

[18:26]  ⁸ sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.

[18:26]  ⁹ tn Or “Hebrew.”