1 Kings 2:5

2:5 “You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me – how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether.¹ During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle;² when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.³

1 Kings 3:26

3:26 The real mother⁴ spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused.⁵ She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!”⁶ But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!”

1 Kings 5:9

5:9 My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate.⁷ There I will separate the logs⁸ and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court.”⁹

1 Kings 8:35

8:35 “The time will come when¹⁰ the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people¹¹ sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you,¹² and turn away from their sin because you punish¹³ them,

1 Kings 12:10

12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam¹⁴ had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’¹⁵ Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father!¹⁶

1 Kings 12:14

12:14 and followed¹⁷ the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier.¹⁸ My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.”¹⁹

1 Kings 12:16

12:16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse!²⁰ Return to your homes, O Israel!²¹ Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!”²² So Israel returned to their homes.²³

1 Kings 12:24

12:24 ‘The Lord says this: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen.”’”²⁴ They obeyed the Lord and went home as the Lord had ordered them to do.²⁵

1 Kings 14:15

14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water.²⁶ He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors²⁷ and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River,²⁸ because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles.²⁹

1 Kings 15:18

15:18 Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and handed it to his servants. He then told them to deliver it³⁰ to Ben Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

1 Kings 18:10

18:10 As certainly as the Lord your God lives, my master has sent to every nation and kingdom in an effort to find you. When they say, ‘He’s not here,’ he makes them³¹ swear an oath that they could not find you.

1 Kings 18:13

18:13 Certainly my master is aware of what I did³² when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets. I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves in two groups of fifty and I brought them food and water.

1 Kings 18:27

18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.”³³

1 Kings 19:21

19:21 Elisha³⁴ went back and took his pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He cooked the meat over a fire that he made by burning the harness and yoke.³⁵ He gave the people meat and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and became his assistant.

¹tn Heb “what he did to the two commanders…and he killed them.”

²tn Heb “he shed the blood of battle in peace.”

³tn Heb “and he shed the blood of battle when he killed which is on his waist and on his sandal[s] which are on his feet.” That is, he covered himself with guilt and his guilt was obvious to all who saw him.

⁴tn Heb “the woman whose son was alive.”

⁵tn Heb “for her compassions grew warm for her son.”

⁶tn The infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the main verb.

⁷tn Heb “I will place them [on? as?] rafts in the sea to the place where you designate to me.” This may mean he would send them by raft, or that he would tie them in raft-like bundles, and have ships tow them down to an Israelite port.

⁸tn Heb “smash them,” i.e., untie the bundles.

⁹tn Heb “as for you, you will satisfy my desire by giving food for my house.”

¹⁰tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 35-36a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

¹¹tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹²tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

¹³tn The Hebrew text has “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). However, this reference to a divine answer is premature, since the next verse asks for God to intervene in mercy. It is better to revocalize the consonantal text as תְעַנֵּם (tÿ’annem, “you afflict them”), a Piel verb form from the homonym עָנָה (“to afflict”).

¹⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”

¹⁶tn Heb “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips.” The referent of “my little one” is not clear. The traditional view is that it refers to the little finger. As the following statement makes clear, Rehoboam’s point is that he is more harsh and demanding than his father.

¹⁷tn Heb “and spoke to them according to.”

¹⁸tn Heb “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.”

¹⁹tn Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” See the note on the same phrase in v. 11.

²⁰sn We have no portion in David; no share in the son of Jesse. Their point seems to be that they have no familial relationship with David that brings them any benefits or places upon them any obligations. They are being treated like outsiders.

²¹tn Heb “to your tents, Israel.” The word “return” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²²tn Heb “Now see your house, David.”

²³tn Heb “went to their tents.”

²⁴tn Heb “for this thing is from me.”

²⁵tn Heb “and they heard the word of the Lord and returned to go according to the word of the Lord.”

²⁶tn The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the Lord will strike Israel as a reed sways in the water.”

²⁷tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).

²⁸tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

²⁹tn Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the Lord”; or “their images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “they set up idols to worship Asherah.”

sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

³⁰tn Heb “King Asa sent it.”

³¹tn Heb “he makes the kingdom or the nation swear an oath.”

³²tn Heb “Has it not been told to my master what I did…?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “Of course it has!”

³³sn Elijah’s sarcastic proposals would have been especially offensive and irritating to Baal’s prophets, for they believed Baal was imprisoned in the underworld as death’s captive during this time of drought. Elijah’s apparent ignorance of their theology is probably designed for dramatic effect; indeed the suggestion that Baal is away on a trip or deep in sleep comes precariously close to the truth as viewed by the prophets.

³⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁵tn Heb “and with the equipment of the oxen he cooked them, the flesh.”