18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, 13 “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”
20:10 Ben Hadad sent another message to him, “May the gods judge me severely 17 if there is enough dirt left in Samaria for my soldiers to scoop up in their hands.” 18
1 tn Heb “to bless.”
2 tn The plural form is used in the Hebrew text to indicate honor and authority.
3 tc Many Hebrew
4 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.
5 tn Or “bowed down; worshiped.”
6 tn Heb “King Solomon.” The name and title have been replaced by the pronoun (“you”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Or “swear an oath to.”
8 tn Heb “May these words of mine, which I have requested before the
9 tn Heb “accomplish the justice of.”
10 tn Heb “give.”
11 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Because this imagery is unfamiliar to the modern reader, the translation “so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me” has been used.
12 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”
13 tn Heb “the word of the
14 tn Heb “saying.”
15 tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”
16 tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”
17 tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”
18 tn Heb “if the dirt of Samaria suffices for the handfuls of all the people who are at my feet.”