8:31 “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. 22
9:6 “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, 23 and decide to serve and worship other gods, 24
18:25 Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and go first, for you are the majority. Invoke the name of your god, but do not light a fire.” 44
20:22 The prophet 48 visited the king of Israel and instructed him, “Go, fortify your defenses. 49 Determine 50 what you must do, for in the spring 51 the king of Syria will attack 52 you.”
1 tn Or “carry out, perform.”
2 tn Heb “to bless.”
3 tn The plural form is used in the Hebrew text to indicate honor and authority.
4 tc Many Hebrew
5 tn Heb “make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne.” The term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) is used here of one’s fame and reputation.
6 tn Or “bowed down; worshiped.”
7 tn Heb “Good is the word, as my master the king has spoken.”
8 tn Heb “so your servant will do.”
9 tn Heb “many days.”
10 tn Heb “did.”
11 tn Heb “walked before.”
12 tn Heb “in faithfulness and in innocence and in uprightness of heart with you.”
13 tn Heb “and you have kept to him this great loyalty and you gave to him a son [who] sits on his throne as this day.”
14 tn Heb “and I do not know going out or coming in.”
15 tn Heb “walk in.”
16 tn Heb “do.”
17 tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.”
18 tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.”
19 tn Heb “said.”
20 tn Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.
21 tn Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”
22 tn Heb “and forgive the man who sins against his neighbor when one takes up against him a curse to curse him and the curse comes before your altar in this house.” In the Hebrew text the words “and forgive” conclude v. 30, but the accusative sign at the beginning of v. 31 suggests the verb actually goes with what follows in v. 31. The parallel text in 2 Chr 6:22 begins with “and if,” rather than the accusative sign. In this case “forgive” must be taken with what precedes, and v. 31 must be taken as the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, with v. 32 being the apodosis (“then” clause) that completes the sentence.
sn Be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. At first it appears that Solomon is asking God to forgive the guilty party. But in v. 32 Solomon asks the
23 tn Heb “which I placed before you.”
24 tn Heb “and walk and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
25 tn Heb “the half was not told to me.”
26 tn Heb “good.”
27 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
28 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
29 tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.
30 tn Heb “Because this is with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my rules which I commanded you.”
31 tn Heb “give.”
32 tn Heb “and now my father placed upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke.”
33 tn Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” “Scorpions” might allude to some type of torture using poisonous insects, but more likely it refers to a type of whip that inflicts an especially biting, painful wound. Cf. CEV “whips with pieces of sharp metal.”
34 tn Heb “house.”
35 tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”
36 tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 21-22 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 21-22a) and the main clause announcing the punishment (v. 22b). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.
37 tn Heb “the mouth [i.e., command] of the
38 tn The Hebrew text has “belonging to Jeroboam” here.
39 tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”
40 tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”
41 tn Heb “according to your word.”
42 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
43 tn Or “trouble.”
44 tc The last sentence of v. 25 is absent in the Syriac Peshitta.
45 tn Heb “saying.”
46 tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”
47 tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”
48 tn The definite article indicates previous reference, that is, “the prophet mentioned earlier” (see v. 13).
49 tn Heb “strengthen yourself.”
50 tn Heb “know and see.”
51 tn Heb “at the turning of the year.”
52 tn Heb “go up against.”
53 sn Your servant. By referring to Ben Hadad as Ahab’s servant, they are suggesting that Ahab make him a subject in a vassal treaty arrangement.
54 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
55 sn He is my brother. Ahab’s response indicates that he wants to make a parity treaty and treat Ben Hadad as an equal partner.
56 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
57 tn Heb “Like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”
58 tn Heb “the words of the prophets are [with] one mouth good for the king.”
59 tn Heb “let your words be like the word of each of them and speak good.”
60 tn The Hebrew verbal forms could be imperatives (“Disguise yourself and enter”), but this would make no sense in light of the immediately following context. The forms are better interpreted as infinitives absolute functioning as cohortatives. See IBHS 594 §35.5.2a. Some prefer to emend the forms to imperfects.