1:17 He died just as the Lord had prophesied through Elijah. 1 In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son. 2
2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” 6 But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. 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.”
2:6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they traveled on together.
5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, 15 for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. 16
19:25 50 Certainly you must have heard! 51
Long ago I worked it out,
In ancient times I planned 52 it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 53
19:32 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here. 54
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, 55
nor will he build siege works against it.
19:35 That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they 56 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. 57
21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, 65 in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord. 66
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. 69 He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel. 70
1 tn Heb “according to the word of the
2 tn Heb “Jehoram replaced him as king…because he had no son.” Some ancient textual witnesses add “his brother,” which was likely added on the basis of the statement later in the verse that Ahaziah had no son.
3 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
4 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
5 tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.
6 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
7 tn Or “healed.”
8 tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”
9 tn Traditionally “the
10 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
11 tn Heb “if I did not lift up the face of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.”
12 tn Heb “I would not look at you or see you.”
13 tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
14 tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.
15 tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”
16 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.
17 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.
18 tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.
19 tn Heb “The
20 tn Heb “anointed.”
21 tn Heb “and open the door and run away and do not delay.”
22 tn Heb “So he said, ‘Like this and like this he said to me, saying.’” The words “like this and like this” are probably not a direct quote of Jehu’s words to his colleagues. Rather this is the narrator’s way of avoiding repetition and indicating that Jehu repeated, or at least summarized, what the prophet had said to him.
23 tn Heb “It is the word of the
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “Search carefully and observe so that there are not here with you any servants of the
26 tn Heb “and be with the king in his going out and in his coming in.”
27 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.
28 tn Heb “ranks.”
29 tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the
30 tn Or “tore down.”
31 tn Or “images.”
32 tn The Hebrew construction translated “smashed…to bits” is emphatic. The adverbial infinitive absolute (הֵיטֵב [hetev], “well”) accompanying the Piel form of the verb שָׁבַר (shavar), “break,” suggests thorough demolition.
33 tn Heb “the priest.” Jehoiada’s name is added for clarification.
34 tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”
35 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Or “showed them compassion.”
37 tn Heb “he turned to them.”
38 tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”
39 tn Heb “until now.”
40 tn Traditionally, “he was a leper.” But see the note at 5:1.
41 tn The precise meaning of בֵית הַחָפְשִׁית (bet hakhofÿshit), “house of […?],” is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 166-67.
42 tn Heb “he walked in the way of.”
43 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.
44 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
45 tn The word “new” is added in the translation for clarification.
46 tn Heb “until.”
47 tn Heb “the
48 tn Heb “just as he said.”
49 tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”
50 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
51 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
52 tn Heb “formed.”
53 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְּהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
54 tn Heb “there.”
55 tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.
56 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
57 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”
58 tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.
59 tn Heb “and with a complete heart.”
60 tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”
61 tn Heb “wept with great weeping.”
62 tn Heb “days are.”
63 tn Heb “these horrible sins.”
64 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
65 tn Heb “and also Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth.”
66 tn Heb “apart from his sin which he caused Judah to commit, by doing what is evil in the eyes of the
67 tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”
68 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.
69 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.
70 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.
71 tn Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the
sn The description of Josiah’s devotion as involving his whole “heart, soul, and being” echoes the language of Deut 6:5.
72 tn Heb “Also Judah I will turn away from my face.”
73 tn Heb “My name will be there.”