2 Chronicles 34:6

6 And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks around.

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 Baalim in his presence; and the images, that [were] on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust [of them] and strewed [it] upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.

5 And he burnt 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 to Naphtali, with their mattocks around.

7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, 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.