01_Dubovský_321_346 28/10/14 10:32 Pagina 327 WHY DID THE NORTHERN KINGDOM FALL? 327 Pekah’s coup d’état (15,25): ¿%l,m,À-tyBe !Amr>a;B. !Arm.vob. WhKeY:w: Avyliv' Whyl.m;r>-!B, xq;P, wyl'[' rvoq.YIw: Whteymiy>w: ~ydI['l.g ynEB.mi vyai ~yVimix] AM[iw> hyEr>a;h'-ta,w> bGOr>a;-ta, Î%l,M,h;Ð wyT'x.T; %l{m.YIw: The first type of additions inserted between the verb hkn and twm concerns the location where the coup d’état took place. Shallum’s conspiracy against Zechariah is described with the term ~[lbq vo- calized as ~['-l.b'q' (2 Kgs 15,10) in Codex Leningradensis. The vo- calization ~['-l.b'q suggests that the expression ~[lbq is composed of two words ~[ and lbq. In this case lbq could be taken as an Ara- maic preposition “in front of, before”. This interpretation can be found in various forms in some Greek manuscripts and is followed by most translations: “he struck him before the people”, i.e. “in public”, “publicly” 14. According to this interpretation of the term ~[lbq the location of the first coup d’état is not specified. However, it was not a secret operation but rather a public event, i.e. approved by the people, if not even with the people’s participation. Con- versely, the Antiochian version offers a different solution of the problem. It has the verbs in the singular and the expression ~[lbq is interpreted as en ieblaam “in Ieblaam” (manuscripts bore2V). These manuscripts suggest interpreting the problematic expression as a location. Even though the geographical location Ieblaam has not been identified, understanding the term ~[lbq as a geographical term should be preferred to reading it as the Aramaic preposition lbq meaning “in front of (the people)”, i.e. “publicly” 15. According to this interpretation of the term ~[lbq the location of the first coup d’état took place outside Samaria, in a place known to the reader from 2 Kgs 14 In particular in manuscript c2. The Codex Vaticanus (B) has the verbs in the plural “they conspired […] they struck him down” and the subjects should be Shallum and probably Keblaam. This interpretation becomes more evident in other Greek manuscripts, in particular, in the Codex Alexandrinus (A) that read Selloum uioj Iabeij kai Keblaam kai epataxan auton katenanti tou laou (see also manuscripts xyAS). Some manuscripts invert the order of the proper names of the people involved in the conspiracy kebdaam kai sellhm o phr autou kai epataxen auton (manuscripts ghjnuzEZ). 15 M. COGAN – H. TADMOR, II Kings. A New Translation (AB 11, Garden City, NY 1988) 170-171; T.R. HOBBS, 2 Kings (WBC 13; Waco, TX 1985) 197; A. ŠANDA, Das zweite Buch der Könige (EHAT 9/2; Münster 1912) 171-173.