1:9 The king 5 sent a captain and his fifty soldiers 6 to retrieve Elijah. 7 The captain 8 went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. 9 He told him, “Prophet, 10 the king says, ‘Come down!’”
1:11 The king 11 sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, 12 “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” 13
2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” 15 But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.
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.
5:8 When Elisha the prophet 18 heard that the king had torn his clothes, he sent this message to the king, “Why did you tear your clothes? Send him 19 to me so he may know there is a prophet in Israel.”
10:1 Ahab had seventy sons living in Samaria. 27 So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the leading officials of Jezreel and to the guardians of Ahab’s dynasty. This is what the letters said, 28
16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. 41 King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. 42 16:11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. 43 Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. 44
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: 45
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 “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”
7 tn Heb “to him.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.
10 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tc The MT reads, “he answered and said to him.” The verb “he answered” (וַיַּעַן, vayya’an) is probably a corruption of “he went up” (וַיַּעַל, vayya’al). See v. 9.
13 sn In this second panel of the three-paneled narrative, the king and his captain are more arrogant than before. The captain uses a more official sounding introduction (“this is what the king says”) and the king adds “at once” to the command.
14 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
15 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
16 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “and now when this letter comes to you, look, I have sent to you Naaman my servant.”
18 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 15, 20).
19 tn Heb “Let him come.”
20 tn Heb “peace.”
21 tn Heb “Look now, here, two servants came to me from the Ephraimite hill country, from the sons of the prophets.”
22 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 75 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).
23 tn Or “held a great feast.”
24 tn Heb “they went back.”
25 tn Heb “and he came to them.”
26 tc The MT has simply “peace,” omitting the prefixed interrogative particle. It is likely that the particle has been accidentally omitted; several ancient witnesses include it or assume its presence.
27 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
28 tn Heb “to the officers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab, saying.” It is not certain why the officials of Jezreel would be in Samaria. They may have fled there after they heard what happened to Joram and before Jehu entered the city. They would have had time to flee while Jehu was pursuing Ahaziah.
29 tn Heb “the one who was over the house.”
30 tn Heb “the one who was over the city.”
31 tn Or “elders.”
32 tn Heb “servants.”
33 tn Heb “Do what is good in your eyes.”
34 tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”
35 tn Heb “and the house of Baal was filled mouth to mouth.”
36 tn Heb “son.” Both terms (“servant” and “son”) reflect Ahaz’s subordinate position as Tiglath-pileser’s subject.
37 tn Heb “hand, palm.”
38 tn Heb “who have arisen against.”
39 tn Heb “that was found.”
40 tn Or “bribe money.”
41 tn Heb “in Damascus.”
42 tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”
43 tn Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”
44 tn Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”
45 tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”