2 Raja-raja 16:7-10

16:7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. ¹  March up and rescue me from the power ²  of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked ³  me.” 16:8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were ⁴  in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute ⁵  to the king of Assyria. 16:9 The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request; ⁶  he ⁷  attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people ⁸  to Kir and executed Rezin.

16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. ⁹  King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. ¹⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 16:17-18

16:17 King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took “The Sea” ¹¹  down from the bronze bulls that supported it ¹²  and put it on the pavement. 16:18 He also removed the Sabbath awning ¹³  that had been built ¹⁴  in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria. ¹⁵ 

[16:7]  ¹ tn Heb “son.” Both terms (“servant” and “son”) reflect Ahaz’s subordinate position as Tiglath-pileser’s subject.

[16:7]  ² tn Heb “hand, palm.”

[16:7]  ³ tn Heb “who have arisen against.”

[16:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “that was found.”

[16:8]  ⁵ tn Or “bribe money.”

[16:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “listened to him.”

[16:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “the king of Assyria.”

[16:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “it.”

[16:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “in Damascus.”

[16:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”

[16:17]  ¹¹ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.

[16:17]  ¹² tn Heb “that [were] under it.”

[16:18]  ¹³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מוּסַךְ (musakh; Qere) / מִיסַךְ (misakh; Kethib) is uncertain. For discussion see HALOT 557 s.v. מוּסַךְ and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189-90.

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that they built.”

[16:18]  ¹⁵ sn It is doubtful that Tiglath-pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 190, 193.