2 Chronicles 34:6

6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

2 Chronicles 34:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 34:6

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
Simeon, even unto Naphtali
Which though they belonged to the ten tribes, yet these being carried captive by the king of Assyria, they that were left became subject to the kings of Judah, (See Gill on 2 Kings 23:19),

with their mattocks round about;
or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick axes, such sort of instruments as were used in demolishing altars and images: the Targum is,

``in the house of their desolation;''

and so other versions, "in their desolate places" ^F24, which were become such, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left behind.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Mhytbrtb) "in desolatis locis suis, [vel] eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Rambachius.

2 Chronicles 34:6 In-Context

4 And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence, and the sun images that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherah poles and the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed unto them.

5 And he burned the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

7 And when he had broken down the altars and the Asherah poles, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.