2 Kings 1:2

1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ¹  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ²  “Go, ask ³  Baal Zebub, ⁴  the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

2 Kings 1:10

1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ⁵  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ⁶  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 1:12

1:12 Elijah replied to them, ⁷  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ⁸  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 3:14

3:14 Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all ⁹  lives (whom I serve), ¹⁰  if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, ¹¹  I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you. ¹² 

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, ¹³  for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 10:24

10:24 They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives!” ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 13:19

13:19 The prophet ¹⁶  got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! ¹⁷  But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.”

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¹ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

² tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”

³ tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”

⁴ sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.

⁵ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”

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 “and [if] not, may there be given to your servant a load [for] a pair of mules, earth.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “for your servant will not again make a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, only to the Lord.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “The man who escapes from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, [it will be] his life in place of his life.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “man of God.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “[It was necessary] to strike five or six times, then you would strike down Syria until destruction.” On the syntax of the infinitive construct, see GKC 349 §114.k.