2:8 “Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, 1 who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. 2 He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised 3 him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down 4 with the sword.’
1 tn Heb “Look, with you is Shimei….”
2 tn Heb “and he cursed me with a horrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim.”
3 tn Or “swore an oath to.”
4 tn Heb “kill you.”
5 tn Heb “sent and summoned.”
6 tn Heb “Is it not [true]…?” In the Hebrew text the statement is interrogative; the rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course it is.”
7 tn Heb “here or there.”
8 tn Heb “good is the word; I have heard.”
9 tn 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.
10 tn Heb “smash them,” i.e., untie the bundles.
11 tn Heb “as for you, you will satisfy my desire by giving food for my house.”
12 tn Heb “saying.”
13 tn Heb “to build a house for my name to be there.”
sn To build a temple in which to live (Heb “to build a house for my name to be there”). In the OT, the word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the
14 sn Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is from the same root as the expression “you have sinned” in v. 9 (וַתָּרַע [vattara’], from רָעַע, [ra’a’]). Jeroboam’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.
15 tn Heb “house.”
16 tn Heb “and I will cut off from Jeroboam those who urinate against a wall (including both those who are) restrained and let free (or “abandoned”) in Israel.” The precise meaning of the idiomatic phrase עָצוּר וְעָזוּב (’atsur vÿ’azuv) is uncertain. For various options see HALOT 871 s.v. עצר 6 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 107. The two terms are usually taken as polar opposites (“slaves and freemen” or “minors and adults”), but Cogan and Tadmor, on the basis of contextual considerations (note the usage with אֶפֶס [’efes], “nothing but”) in Deut 32:36 and 2 Kgs 14:26, argue convincingly that the terms are synonyms, meaning “restrained and abandoned,” and refer to incapable or incapacitated individuals.
17 tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” Manure was sometimes used as fuel (see Ezek 4:12, 15). However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I will sweep away the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away manure it is gone” (cf. ASV, NASB, TEV). Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.
18 tn Heb “Has it not been told to my master what I did…?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “Of course it has!”
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “streets,” but this must refer to streets set up with stalls for merchants to sell their goods. See HALOT 299 s.v. חוּץ.
21 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
22 tn Heb “I will send you away with a treaty.” The words “Ahab then said” are supplied in the translation. There is nothing in the Hebrew text to indicate that the speaker has changed from Ben Hadad to Ahab. Some suggest adding “and he said” before “I will send you away.” Others prefer to maintain Ben Hadad as the speaker and change the statement to, “Please send me away with a treaty.”
23 tn Heb “if it is good in your eyes.”
24 tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it will be mine as a garden of herbs.”