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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 ten years in Samaria. 18 He did evil in the sight of[a] the Lord; he did not repudiate[b] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin.[c]

During his reign, 19 Pul[d] king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid[e] him[f] 1,000 talents[g] of silver to gain his support[h] and to solidify his control of the kingdom.[i] 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.[j] 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.[k]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 15:18 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  2. 2 Kings 15:18 tn Heb “turn away from.”
  3. 2 Kings 15:18 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 בְּיֹמָיו (beyomayv), “in his days,” and join the phrase to what follows. The translation assumes this change.
  4. 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.
  5. 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “gave.”
  6. 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “Pul.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  7. 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.”
  8. 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “so his hands would be with him.”
  9. 2 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “to keep hold of the kingdom in his hand.”
  10. 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.”
  11. 2 Kings 15:21 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?”

17 In the thirty ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel for ten years in Samaria. 18 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He didn’t depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents[a] of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. 20 Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels[b] of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn’t stay there in the land. 21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

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Footnotes

  1. 15:19 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds, so 1000 talents is about 30 metric tons
  2. 15:20 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 50 shekels was about 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pounds.