2 Raja-raja 18:4-8

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³  18:5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. ⁴  18:6 He was loyal to ⁵  the Lord and did not abandon him. ⁶  He obeyed the commandments which the Lord had given to ⁷  Moses. 18:7 The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. ⁸  He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him. ⁹  18:8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress. ¹⁰ 

[18:4]  ¹ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

[18:4]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “until those days.”

[18:4]  ³ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

[18:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, and those who were before him.”

[18:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “he hugged.”

[18:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and did not turn aside from after him.”

[18:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “had commanded.”

[18:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “in all which he went out [to do], he was successful.”

[18:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and did not serve him.”

[18:8]  ¹⁰ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:9.