1:13 The king 1 sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell 2 on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.
4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets 7 appealed 8 to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. 9 Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”
9:11 When Jehu rejoined 17 his master’s servants, they 18 asked him, “Is everything all right? 19 Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” 20
17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” 21
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 22 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 23 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”
3 tn Or “the spirit of the
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “that we might inquire of the
6 tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.
7 tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”
8 tn Or “cried out.”
9 tn Heb “your servant feared the
10 tn Heb “my father,” reflecting the perspective of each individual servant. To address their master as “father” would emphasize his authority and express their respect. See BDB 3 s.v. אָב and the similar idiomatic use of “father” in 2 Kgs 2:12.
11 tn Heb “a great thing.”
12 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”
13 tn Heb “How much more [when] he said, “Wash and be healed.” The second imperative (“be healed”) states the expected result of obeying the first (‘wash”).
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “Did not my heart go as a man turned from his chariot to meet you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes that he was indeed present in “heart” (or “spirit”) and was very much aware of what Gehazi had done. In the MT the interrogative particle has been accidentally omitted before the negative particle.
16 tn In the MT the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Is this the time…?” It expects an emphatic negative response.
17 tn Heb “went out to.”
18 tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.
19 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
20 tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.
21 tn Heb “obey my commandments and rules according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
22 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.
23 tn Or “Hebrew.”
24 tn Heb “him, dead.”
25 tn Or “anointed him.”