2 Kings 23:6-8

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 2 Kings 23:6 tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”
2. 2 Kings 23:6 tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.” tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.
3. 2 Kings 23:7 tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”
4. 2 Kings 23:7 tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.
5. 2 Kings 23:8 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
6. 2 Kings 23:8 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
7. 2 Kings 23:8 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hash^eʿarim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.