2 Kings 1:15
1:15 The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down 1 with him to the king.
2 Kings 2:3
2:3 Some members of the prophetic guild 2 in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” 3 He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2 Kings 2:5
2:5 Some members of the prophetic guild in Jericho approached Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2 Kings 2:14
2:14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah, 4 hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.
2 Kings 2:21
2:21 He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have purified 5 this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.” 6
2 Kings 3:2
3:2 He did evil in the sight of 7 the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.
2 Kings 3:14
3:14 Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all 8 lives (whom I serve), 9 if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, 10 I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you. 11
2 Kings 3:17
3:17 for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel 12 any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’
2 Kings 4:30
4:30 The mother of the child said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha 13 got up and followed her back.
2 Kings 4:43
4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” 14 He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 15
2 Kings 5:1
Elisha Heals a Syrian General
5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, 16 for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. 17
2 Kings 5:11
5:11 Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease.
2 Kings 5:17
5:17 Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry, 18 for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. 19
2 Kings 5:20
5:20 Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant, thought, 20 “Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him. 21 As certainly as the Lord lives, I will run after him and accept something from him.”
2 Kings 7:16
7:16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah 22 of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would. 23
2 Kings 8:8
8:8 So the king told Hazael, “Take a gift 24 and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the Lord. Ask him, 25 ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”
2 Kings 8:18
8:18 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. 26 He did evil in the sight of 27 the Lord.
2 Kings 8:27
8:27 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty and did evil in the sight of 28 the Lord, like Ahab’s dynasty, for he was related to Ahab’s family. 29
2 Kings 9:3
9:3 Take the container of olive oil, pour it over his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says, “I have designated 30 you as king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and run away quickly!” 31
2 Kings 9:7
9:7 You will destroy the family of your master Ahab. 32 I will get revenge against Jezebel for the shed blood of my servants the prophets and for the shed blood of all the Lord’s servants. 33
2 Kings 9:36
9:36 When they went back and told him, he said, “The Lord’s word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned, 34 ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.
2 Kings 10:23
10:23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went to the temple of Baal. Jehu 35 said to the servants of Baal, “Make sure there are no servants of the Lord here with you; there must be only servants of Baal.” 36
2 Kings 10:30-31
10:30 The Lord said to Jehu, “You have done well. You have accomplished my will and carried out my wishes with regard to Ahab’s dynasty. Therefore four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.” 37
10:31 But Jehu did not carefully and wholeheartedly obey the law of the Lord God of Israel. 38 He did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam had encouraged Israel to commit. 39
2 Kings 12:10
12:10 When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary 40 and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the Lord’s temple and bagged it up. 41
2 Kings 12:12
12:12 as well as masons and stonecutters. They bought wood and chiseled stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple and also paid for all the other expenses. 42
2 Kings 13:2
13:2 He did evil in the sight of 43 the Lord. He continued in 44 the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins. 45
2 Kings 13:11
13:11 He did evil in the sight of 46 the Lord. He did not repudiate 47 the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin; he continued in those sins. 48
2 Kings 13:17
13:17 Elisha 49 said, “Open the east window,” and he did so. 50 Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he did so. 51 Elisha 52 said, “This arrow symbolizes the victory the Lord will give you over Syria. 53 You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!” 54
2 Kings 14:14
14:14 He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some hostages. 55 Then he went back to Samaria. 56 (
2 Kings 15:9
15:9 He did evil in the sight of 57 the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not repudiate 58 the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:18
15:18 He did evil in the sight of 59 the Lord; he did not repudiate 60 the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 61 During his reign,
2 Kings 15:35
15:35 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.
2 Kings 16:2-3
16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. 62 He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. 63
16:3 He followed in the footsteps of 64 the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, 65 a horrible sin practiced by the nations 66 whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.
2 Kings 16:8
16:8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were 67 in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute 68 to the king of Assyria.
2 Kings 17:7
A Summary of Israel’s Sinful History
17:7 This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of 69 Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped 70 other gods;
2 Kings 17:16-17
17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, 71 and worshiped 72 Baal.
17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, 73 and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 74
2 Kings 17:21
17:21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. 75 Jeroboam drove Israel away 76 from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin. 77
2 Kings 17:23
17:23 Finally 78 the Lord rejected Israel 79 just as he had warned he would do 80 through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
2 Kings 17:35-36
17:35 The Lord made an agreement 81 with them 82 and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.
17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; 83 bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him.
2 Kings 17:41
17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
2 Kings 18:16
18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated 84 and gave them to the king of Assyria.
2 Kings 19:6
19:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. 85
2 Kings 19:35
19:35 That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they 86 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. 87
2 Kings 20:17
20:17 ‘Look, a time is 88 coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
2 Kings 20:19
20:19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” 89 Then he added, 90 “At least there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.” 91
2 Kings 21:12
21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. 92
2 Kings 21:16
21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, 93 in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord. 94
2 Kings 22:3-4
22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: 95
22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down 96 the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door.
2 Kings 22:8-9
22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.
22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, 97 “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple 98 and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.”
2 Kings 22:16
22:16 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read. 99
2 Kings 23:6
23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. 100 He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. 101
2 Kings 23:9
23:9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) 102
2 Kings 23:19
23:19 Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord. 103 He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel. 104
2 Kings 23:27
23:27 The Lord announced, “I will also spurn Judah, 105 just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose – both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, “I will live there.” 106
2 Kings 24:2
24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. 107
2 Kings 24:20
24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. 108 Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
2 Kings 25:13
25:13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the “The Sea.” 109 They took the bronze to Babylon.
1 sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.
2 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
3 tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.
4 tn Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13).
5 tn Or “healed.”
6 tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”
7 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
8 tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”
9 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
10 tn Heb “if I did not lift up the face of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.”
11 tn Heb “I would not look at you or see you.”
12 tn Heb “see.”
13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent must be Elisha here, since the following verse makes it clear that Gehazi had gone on ahead of them.
14 tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
15 tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.
16 tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”
17 tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (mÿtsora’), traditionally translated “leprous,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 63. Naaman probably had a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.
18 tn Heb “and [if] not, may there be given to your servant a load [for] a pair of mules, earth.”
19 tn Heb “for your servant will not again make a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, only to the Lord.”
20 tn Heb “said” (i.e., to himself).
21 tn Heb “Look, my master spared this Syrian Naaman by not taking from his hand what he brought.”
22 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.
23 tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”
24 tn The Hebrew text also has “in your hand.”
25 tn Heb “Inquire of the Lord through him, saying.”
26 tn Heb “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife.”
27 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
28 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
29 tn Heb “and he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for he was a relative by marriage of the house of Ahab.” For this use of חֲתַן (khatan), normally “son-in-law,” see HALOT 365 s.v. חָתָן. Ahab was Ahaziah’s grandfather on his mother’s side.
30 tn Heb “anointed.”
31 tn Heb “and open the door and run away and do not delay.”
32 tn Or “strike down the house of Ahab your master.”
33 tn Heb “I will avenge the shed blood of my servants the prophets and the shed blood of all the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel.”
34 tn Heb “It is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, saying.”
35 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Heb “Search carefully and observe so that there are not here with you any servants of the Lord, only the servants of Baal.”
37 tn Heb “Because you have done well by doing what is proper in my eyes – according to all which was in my heart you have done to the house of Ahab – sons of four generations will sit for you on the throne of Israel.” In the Hebrew text the Lord’s statement is one long sentence (with a parenthesis). The translation above divides it into shorter sentences for stylistic reasons.
sn Jehu ruled over Israel from approximately 841-814 b.c. Four of his descendants (Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah) ruled from approximately 814-753 b.c. The dynasty came to an end when Shallum assassinated Zechariah in 753 b.c. See 2 Kgs 15:8-12.
38 tn Heb “But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.”
39 tn Heb “He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to commit.”
40 tn Heb “the king’s scribe.”
41 tn Heb “went up and tied [it] and counted the silver that was found in the house of the Lord.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to make better sense in English, since it seems more logical to count the money before bagging it (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).
42 tn Heb “and for all that which was going out concerning the house for repair.”
43 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
44 tn Heb “walked after.”
45 tn Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”
46 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
47 tn Heb “turn away from all.”
48 tn Heb “in it he walked.”
49 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
50 tn Heb “He opened [it].”
51 tn Heb “and he shot.”
52 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
53 tn Heb “The arrow of victory of the Lord and the arrow of victory over Syria.”
54 tn Heb “you will strike down Syria in Aphek until destruction.”
55 tn Heb “the sons of the pledges.”
56 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
57 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
58 tn Heb “turn away from.”
59 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
60 tn Heb “turn away from.”
61 tc The MT of v. 18 ends with the words, “all his days.” If this phrase is taken with what precedes, then one should translate, “[who encouraged Israel to sin] throughout his reign.” However, it may be preferable to emend the text to בְיֹמָיו (bÿyomav), “in his days,” and join the phrase to what follows. The translation assumes this change.
62 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
63 tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God, like David his father.”
64 tn Heb “he walked in the way of.”
65 sn This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.
66 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
67 tn Heb “that was found.”
68 tn Or “bribe money.”
69 tn Heb “and from under the hand of.” The words “freed them” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
70 tn Heb “feared.”
71 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
72 tn Or “served.”
73 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
74 tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”
75 tn Heb “and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king.”
76 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the verb is נָדָא (nada’), an alternate form of נָדָה (nadah), “push away.” The marginal reading (Qere) assumes the verb נָדָח (nadakh), “drive away.”
77 tn Heb “a great sin.”
78 tn Heb “until.”
79 tn Heb “the Lord turned Israel away from his face.”
80 tn Heb “just as he said.”
81 tn Or “covenant.”
82 sn That is, the descendants of Jacob/Israel (see v. 35b).
83 tn Heb “and outstretched arm.”
84 tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”
85 tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”
86 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
87 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”
88 tn Heb “days are.”
89 tn Heb “good.”
90 tn Heb “and he said.” Many English versions translate, “for he thought.” The verb אָמַר (’amar), “say,” is sometimes used of what one thinks (that is, says to oneself). Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT.
91 tn Heb “Is it not [true] there will be peace and stability in my days?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, there will be peace and stability.”
92 tn Heb “so that everyone who hears it, his two ears will quiver.”
93 tn Heb “and also Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth.”
94 tn Heb “apart from his sin which he caused Judah to commit, by doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
95 tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”
96 tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.
97 tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”
98 tn Heb “that was found in the house.”
99 tn Heb “all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read.”
100 tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”
101 tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”
tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.
102 tn Heb “their brothers.”
103 tc Heb “which the kings of Israel had made, angering.” The object has been accidentally omitted in the MT. It appears in the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate versions.
104 tn Heb “and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.”
map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
105 tn Heb “Also Judah I will turn away from my face.”
106 tn Heb “My name will be there.”
107 tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.”
108 tn Heb “Surely [or, ‘for’] because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he threw them out from upon his face.”
109 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.