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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 The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.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 Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel during Uzziah’s thirty-ninth year as king of Judah. Menahem ·ruled [reigned] ten years in Samaria, 18 and he did ·what the Lord said was wrong [L evil in the eyes/sight of the Lord]. Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to sin, and all the time Menahem was king, he did not ·stop doing [depart/turn away from] the same sins.

19 Pul [C another name for Tiglath-pileser] king of Assyria ·came to attack [invaded] the land. Menahem gave him ·about seventy-four thousand pounds [L a thousand talents] of silver so Pul would support him ·and make his hold on the kingdom stronger [in tightening his grip/hold on royal power/the kingdom]. 20 Menahem ·taxed [exacted/extorted the money from] the rich in Israel to pay ·about one and one-fourth pounds [L fifty shekels] of silver for each soldier to the king of Assyria. So the king left and did not stay in the land.

21 Everything else Menahem did ·is [L is it not…?] written in the book of the ·history [chronicles; annals; 1:18] of the kings of Israel.

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