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Journey of a Passage

2 Kings 23:29

Necho went "against" or "to" the king of Assyria?

The Hebrew preposition 'al can mean "against" or "to, on behalf of." The KJV and the library's Greek read "against"; the Babylonian Chronicle shows Egypt marching to help Assyria in 609 BC, so most modern translations read "to."

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original KingsUnknown (debated)
  2. 2 Chronicles 35:20–24 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Chronicles composed c. 4th century BC
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Kings
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. ADTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
Babylonian
  1. Babylonian Chronicle (Fall of Nineveh chronicle)Events of 609 BC; later copy

Every witness, in order

  1. Events of 609 BC; later copy

    Babylonian Chronicle (Fall of Nineveh chronicle)

    ⓘ Reports what manuscripts contained

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    A large Egyptian army comes to help Ashur-uballit, the last Assyrian king, against Babylon at Harran.

  2. Unknown (debated)

    Original Kings

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  3. Chronicles composed c. 4th century BC

    2 Chronicles 35:20–24 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passage

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.

    Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him… the archers shot at king Josiah

    A battle account with Necho's warning and Josiah's disguise.

  4. Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD

    Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Néchao marcha sur le fleuve Euphrate contre le roi des Assyriens

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  5. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    ascendit Pharao Nechao… contra regem Assyriorum

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Kings

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    עָלָה פַרְעֹה נְכֹה… עַל־מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר

    Pharaoh Necho went up 'al the king of Assyria

    'al: upon, against, or to.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    went up against the king of Assyria

    Modern translations: "to the king of Assyria" (NRSV, ESV).

What changed, and why

The Babylonian evidence settled the historical question for most scholars: Egypt was Assyria's ally. Why Josiah met Necho is still debated.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedEgypt marched to aid Assyria in 609 BC.
  • Conflicts with current evidence"Against" is the correct translation here.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • Josiah's Reform and Death →Josiah reads the book of the covenant to all the people and makes a covenant. He removes the vessels of Baal, Asherah and the host of heaven from the temple, defiles Topheth, removes the horses of the sun, destroys the high places from Geba to Beersheba and Solomon's shrines, breaks down the altar at Bethel and burns bones on it, and keeps a Passover unlike any since the judges. In 609 BC Pharaoh Necho goes up toward the Euphrates; Josiah goes to meet him and is killed at Megiddo.