21:8 During Jehoram’s 1 reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king. 2 21:9 Jehoram crossed over to Zair with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. 3 21:10 So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day. 4 At that same time Libnah also rebelled and freed themselves from Judah’s control 5 because Jehoram 6 rejected the Lord God of his ancestors.
1 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoram) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “in his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and enthroned a king over them.”
3 tc Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Jehoram was surrounded and launched a victorious nighttime counterattack. Yet v. 10 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֹתוֹ [’oto, “him”] instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. See also 2 Kgs 8:21.
4 tn Heb “and Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah until this day.”
5 tn Or “from Jehoram’s control”; Heb “from under his hand.” The pronominal suffix may refer to Judah in general or, more specifically, to Jehoram.
6 tn Heb “he.” This pronoun could refer to Judah, but the context focuses on Jehoram’s misdeeds. See especially v. 11.