Bible Synapse
Annals of Tiglath-pileser III
Inscription · c. 738–727 BC · Israel and Judah · also called Tiglath-pileser III’s summary inscriptions, Menahem tribute list
See it on the map and timeline- Date
- c. 738–727 BC (the inscriptions’ carving)
- Found
- Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), Iraq. Carved on stone slabs in Tiglath-pileser’s palace at Kalhu, which a later king dismantled. A. H. Layard and others found the slabs in the mid-19th century; some went to the British Museum, while others were left at the site and are known only from copies made in the field.
- Now
- Scattered
- Passages
- 2 Kings 15:19–20, 2 Kings 15:29–30, 1 Chronicles 5:26
What it is
Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria from 745 to 727 BC, had his campaigns recorded year by year on carved slabs in his palace at Kalhu, and in shorter summaries on stone slabs and clay tablets. A list of rulers who paid tribute in 738 BC names Menahem of Samaria alongside Rezin of Damascus and other western kings. A later summary says that Peqah, king of Israel, was killed, that Tiglath-pileser set Hoshea on the throne in his place, and that he received gold and silver from them.
How it connects to the Bible
2 Kings 15:19–20 says that Menahem paid “Pul the king of Assyria” a thousand talents of silver; Pul was another name for Tiglath-pileser III (compare 1 Chronicles 5:26). 2 Kings 15:29–30 tells how Tiglath-pileser took Galilee in the days of Pekah, and how Hoshea killed Pekah and reigned in his stead, a change the Assyrian king presents as his own doing.
What scholars debate
Most of these passages survive only in pieces or in 19th-century copies, and parts are restored from parallel texts; the broken line does not make clear who killed Peqah.