20:22 The prophet 4 visited the king of Israel and instructed him, “Go, fortify your defenses. 5 Determine 6 what you must do, for in the spring 7 the king of Syria will attack 8 you.”
1 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
2 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 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.
4 tn The definite article indicates previous reference, that is, “the prophet mentioned earlier” (see v. 13).
5 tn Heb “strengthen yourself.”
6 tn Heb “know and see.”
7 tn Heb “at the turning of the year.”
8 tn Heb “go up against.”