2 Kings 1:10

1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ¹  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ²  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 1:12

1:12 Elijah replied to them, ³  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ⁴  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 2:3

2:3 Some members of the prophetic guild ⁵  in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” ⁶  He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

2 Kings 2:23-24

2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. ⁷  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ⁸  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ⁹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

2 Kings 4:31

4:31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha ¹⁰  he told him, “The child did not wake up.”

2 Kings 10:8

10:8 The messenger came and told Jehu, ¹¹  “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu ¹²  said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

2 Kings 10:21

10:21 Jehu sent invitations throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one was absent. They arrived at the temple of Baal and filled it up from end to end. ¹³ 

2 Kings 15:16

15:16 At that time Menahem came from Tirzah and attacked Tiphsah. He struck down all who lived in the city and the surrounding territory, because they would not surrender. ¹⁴  He even ripped open the pregnant women.

2 Kings 15:29

15:29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, ¹⁵  Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people ¹⁶  to Assyria.

2 Kings 19:28

19:28 Because you rage against me,

and the uproar you create has reached my ears; ¹⁷ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ¹⁸ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back the way

you came.”

2 Kings 23:17

23:17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet ¹⁹  who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

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¹ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

² tn Wordplay contributes to the irony here. The king tells Elijah to “come down” (Hebrew יָרַד, yarad), but Elijah calls fire down (יָרַד) on the arrogant king’s officer.

³ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

⁴ tn Or “intense fire.” The divine name may be used idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the fire. Whether one translates אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) here as a proper name or idiomatically, this addition to the narrative (the name is omitted in the first panel, v. 10b) emphasizes the severity of the judgment and is appropriate given the more intense command delivered by the king to the prophet in this panel.

⁵ tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”

⁶ tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.

⁷ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁸ tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.

⁹ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to meet him.”

¹¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “and the house of Baal was filled mouth to mouth.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “then Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, for it would not open, and he attacked.”

tn Instead of “Tiphsah,” the LXX has “Tirzah,” while Lucian’s Greek version reads “Tappuah.” For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 171.

¹⁵ map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-D3; Map3-A2; Map4-C1.

¹⁶ tn Heb “them.”

¹⁷ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךְ (sha’anankh), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ (sha’avankh), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.

¹⁸ sn The word picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

¹⁹ tn Heb “man of God.”