2 Tawarikh 32:12-16

32:12 Hezekiah is the one who eliminated ¹  the Lord’s ²  high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.” 32:13 Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors ³  have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power? ⁴  32:14 Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power? ⁵  32:15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how ⁶  can your gods rescue ⁷  you from my power?’”

32:16 Sennacherib’s ⁸  servants further insulted ⁹  the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah.

2 Tawarikh 32:19

32:19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

[32:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Did not he, Hezekiah, eliminate…?” This rhetorical question presupposes a positive reply (“yes, he did”) and so has been translated here as a positive statement.

[32:12]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:13]  ³ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 14, 15), but in this context the term does not necessarily refer to Sennacherib’s ancestors, but to his predecessors on the Assyrian throne.

[32:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[32:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “hand.”

[32:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “how much less.”

[32:15]  ⁷ tn The verb is plural, suggesting that the preceding אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (’elohekhem) be translated “your gods,” rather than “your God.”

[32:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[32:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “spoke against.”