2 Kings 15:19-20
New English Translation
19 Pul[a] king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid[b] him[c] 1,000 talents[d] of silver to gain his support[e] and to solidify his control of the kingdom.[f] 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.[g] Then the king of Assyria left; he did not stay there in the land.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Kings 15:19 sn Pul was a nickname of Tiglath-Pileser III (cf. 15:29). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171-72.
- 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “gave.”
- 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- 2 Kings 15:19 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.”
- 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.”
- 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.”
- 2 Kings 15:20 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.”
2 Kings 15:19-20
New International Version
19 Then Pul[a](A) king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents[b] of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom. 20 Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy person had to contribute fifty shekels[c] of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew(B) and stayed in the land no longer.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 15:19 Also called Tiglath-Pileser
- 2 Kings 15:19 That is, about 38 tons or about 34 metric tons
- 2 Kings 15:20 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams
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