1 Kings 9:9

9:9 Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

1 Kings 18:18

18:18 Elijah ⁴  replied, “I have not brought disaster ⁵  on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

1 Kings 21:21

21:21 The Lord says, ⁶  ‘Look, I am ready to bring disaster ⁷  on you. I will destroy you ⁸  and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. ⁹ 

1 Kings 21:29

21:29 “Have you noticed how Ahab shows remorse ¹⁰  before me? Because he shows remorse before me, I will not bring disaster on his dynasty during his lifetime, but during the reign of his son.” ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “and they will say.”

² tn Heb “fathers.”

³ tn Heb “and they took hold of other gods and bowed down to them and served them.”

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Or “trouble.”

⁶ tn The introductory formula “the Lord says” is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁷ sn Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is similar to the word translated “evil” (v. 20, הָרַע, hara’). Ahab’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.

⁸ tn Heb “I will burn after you.” Some take the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean here “sweep away.” See the discussion of this verb in the notes at 14:10 and 16:3.

⁹ tn Heb “and I will cut off from Ahab 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, translated here “weak and incapacitated”) is uncertain. For various options see HALOT 871 s.v. עצר 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.

¹⁰ tn Or “humbles himself.” The expression occurs a second time later in this verse.

¹¹ tn Heb “I will not bring the disaster during his days, [but] in the days of his son I will bring the disaster on his house.”