1:3 But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. 1
23:24 Josiah also got rid of 2 the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 3 the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 4 and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 5 recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.
1 tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question.
2 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.
3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.
4 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
5 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”