Footnotes

1. 2 Kings 25:1 tn Or “against.”
2. 2 Kings 25:1 sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).
3. 2 Kings 25:3 tn The MT has simply “of the month,” but the parallel passage in Jer 52:6 has “fourth month,” and this is followed by almost all English translations. The word “fourth,” however, is not actually present in the MT of 2 Kgs 25:3.sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.
4. 2 Kings 25:3 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
5. 2 Kings 25:4 tn Heb “the city was breached.”
6. 2 Kings 25:4 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
7. 2 Kings 25:4 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the City of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
8. 2 Kings 25:4 sn The rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿarabah) extends northward of the Dead Sea past Galilee and southward to the Gulf of Aqaba. Here the southern part of the Jordan Valley is in view with the intention to escape across the Jordan river to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
9. 2 Kings 25:5 sn The rift valley plains of Jericho refer to the parts of the Jordan Valley in the vicinity of Jericho (see HALOT 880 s.v. עֲרָבָה). There the terrain is fairly level and slopes gently down to the Jordan, a descent of about 450 feet over five miles. Many translations render this as “the plains of Jericho” (ESV, NASB, NIV, KJV). See the note at Num 22:1.
10. 2 Kings 25:6 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
11. 2 Kings 25:6 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.
12. 2 Kings 25:7 tn Heb “were killed before his eyes.”
13. 2 Kings 25:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14. 2 Kings 25:8 tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”
15. 2 Kings 25:8 sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.
16. 2 Kings 25:8 tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
17. 2 Kings 25:9 tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”
18. 2 Kings 25:11 tc The MT has “the multitude.” But הֶהָמוֹן (hehamon) should probably be emended to הֶאָמוֹן (heʾamon). See Jeremiah 52:15.
19. 2 Kings 25:12 tn Heb “the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.
20. 2 Kings 25:13 tn Heb “the bronze pillars that were in the Lord’s house and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the Lord’s house the Babylonians broke.”sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.
21. 2 Kings 25:14 sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.
22. 2 Kings 25:14 sn These were used to trim the wicks.
23. 2 Kings 25:14 tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”
24. 2 Kings 25:15 sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.
25. 2 Kings 25:16 tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (v^eha) on וְהַבָּקָר (v^ehabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (v^ehamm^ekhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.
26. 2 Kings 25:17 tn Heb “18 cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about 18 inches (45 cm) long.
27. 2 Kings 25:17 tn Heb “3 cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”
28. 2 Kings 25:19 tn The parallel passage in Jer 52:25 has “seven.”
29. 2 Kings 25:19 tn Heb “five men seeing the king’s face.”
30. 2 Kings 25:19 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
31. 2 Kings 25:21 tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”
32. 2 Kings 25:21 tn Heb “land.”
33. 2 Kings 25:22 tn Heb “And the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.”
34. 2 Kings 25:23 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
35. 2 Kings 25:24 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
36. 2 Kings 25:25 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
37. 2 Kings 25:25 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
38. 2 Kings 25:25 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”
39. 2 Kings 25:26 tn Heb “arose and went to.”
40. 2 Kings 25:27 sn The parallel account in Jer 52:31 has “twenty-fifth.”
41. 2 Kings 25:27 sn The twenty-seventh day would be March 22, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.
42. 2 Kings 25:27 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
43. 2 Kings 25:27 tn The words “released him” are supplied in the translation on the basis of Jer 52:31.
44. 2 Kings 25:28 tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of.”
45. 2 Kings 25:29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46. 2 Kings 25:30 tc The words “until the day he died” do not appear in the MT, but they are included in the parallel passage in Jer 52:34. Probably they have been accidentally omitted by homoioteleuton. A scribe’s eye jumped from the final vav (ו) on בְּיוֹמוֹ (b^eyomo), “in his day,” to the final vav (ו) on מוֹתוֹ (moto), “his death,” leaving out the intervening words.