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
3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why are you here? 3 Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets!” The king of Israel replied to him, “No, for the Lord is the one who summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to Moab.”
5:15 He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman 11 came and stood before him. He said, “For sure 12 I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”
6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. 13 The king 14 sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, 15 Elisha 16 said to the leaders, 17 “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” 18 Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” 19
9:11 When Jehu rejoined 27 his master’s servants, they 28 asked him, “Is everything all right? 29 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.” 30
25:27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh 42 day of the twelfth month, 43 King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned 44 King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him 45 from prison.
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 tn Or “What do we have in common?” The text reads literally, “What to me and to you?”
4 tn Heb “he went up and lay down over.”
5 tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).
6 tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “a great thing.”
9 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”
10 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”).
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “look.”
13 tn Heb “and the elders were sitting with him.”
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “sent a man from before him, before the messenger came to him.”
16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “elders.”
18 tn Heb “Do you see that this son of an assassin has sent to remove my head?”
19 tn Heb “Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
20 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”
22 tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”
23 sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.
24 tn Heb “saying.”
25 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 tn Heb “went out to.”
28 tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.
29 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
30 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.
31 tn The words “my chariot” are added for clarification.
32 tn Heb “and he hitched up his chariot.”
33 tn Heb “each in his chariot and they went out.”
34 tn Heb “they found him.”
35 tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.
36 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
37 tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov), “ritual pit,” refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov), “owner of a ritual pit.” See H. Hoffner, “Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.
38 tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the
39 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
40 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
41 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”
42 sn The parallel account in Jer 52:31 has “twenty-fifth.”
43 sn The twenty-seventh day would be March 22, 561
44 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
45 tn The words “released him” are supplied in the translation on the basis of Jer 52:31.