to break through to the king of Edom. Heb. lĕhabqîaʿ ʾel- in hiphil occurs again only in Isa 7:6, but there ʾel expresses “to one’s benefit, advantage” (the so-called “ethical dative”). In qal, the phrase bāqôaʿ bĕ- is “breaking through” as in 2 Sam 23:16; with ʾel “breaking through (and seizing) for oneself” as 2 Chr 32:1. (Note that the parallel in 2 Kgs 18:13 reads wayyitpĕśēm, “he seized them.”) Admittedly the present case is the only instance of breaking out of a siege, but the action is described