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
5:15 He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman 5 came and stood before him. He said, “For sure 6 I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”
8:1 Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, 16 for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”
10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, 22 then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 23 Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 24 men of the city were raising them.
10:15 When he left there, he met 25 Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him. 26 Jehu greeted him and asked, 27 “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?” 28 Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.” 29 So he offered his hand and Jehu 30 pulled him up into the chariot.
12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal 31 all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, 32 the silver received from those who have made vows, 33 and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord’s temple. 34
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 38 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 39 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. 40 His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.” 41
19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, 43
‘With my many chariots 44
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars,
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions, 45
its thickest woods.
19:29 46 This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: 47 This year you will eat what grows wild, 48 and next year 49 what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. 50
20:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 51 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 52
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 Heb “went and sent.”
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoshaphat) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “I will go up – like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “look.”
7 tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”
8 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”
9 tn Heb “man of God.”
10 tn Heb “the
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
13 tn Heb “the
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”
17 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”
19 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.”
20 sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.
21 tn Heb “saying.”
22 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”
23 sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some
24 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.
25 tn Heb “found.”
26 tn Heb “and he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab [who was coming] to meet him.”
27 tn Heb “and he blessed him and said to him.”
28 tn Heb “Is there with your heart [what is] right, as my heart [is] with your heart?”
29 tc Heb “Jehonadab said, ‘There is and there is. Give your hand.’” If the text is allowed to stand, there are two possible ways to understand the syntax of וָיֵשׁ (vayesh), “and there is”: (1) The repetition of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is and there is”) could be taken as emphatic, “indeed I am.” In this case, the entire statement could be taken as Jehonadab’s words or one could understand the words “give your hand” as Jehu’s. In the latter case the change in speakers is unmarked. (2) וָיֵשׁ begins Jehu’s response and has a conditional force, “if you are.” In this case, the transition in speakers is unmarked. However, it is possible that וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer), “and he said,” or וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא (vayyo’mer yehu), “and Jehu said,” originally appeared between יֵשׁ and וָיֵשׁ and has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note that both the proposed וַיֹּאמֶר and וָיֵשׁ begin with vav, ו). The present translation assumes such a textual reconstruction; it is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.
30 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn The words “I place at your disposal” are added in the translation for clarification.
32 tn Heb “the silver of passing over a man.” The precise meaning of the phrase is debated, but עָבַר (’avar), “pass over,” probably refers here to counting, suggesting the reference is to a census conducted for taxation purposes. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 137.
33 tn Heb “the silver of persons, his valuation.” The precise meaning of the phrase is uncertain, but parallels in Lev 27 suggest that personal vows are referred to here. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 137.
34 tn Heb “all the silver which goes up on the heart of a man to bring to the house of the
35 tn Heb “Now, do not take silver from your treasurers, because for the damages to the temple you must give it.”
36 tn Heb “the animal of the field.”
37 sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).
38 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.
39 tn Or “Hebrew.”
40 tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.
41 tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”
sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.
42 tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”
43 tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew
44 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּרֶכֶב (bÿrekhev), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [rikhbi], “my chariots”). The marginal reading (Qere) בְּרֹב (bÿrov), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew
45 tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”
46 tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).
47 tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.
48 sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.
49 tn Heb “and in the second year.”
50 tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.
51 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”
52 tn Heb “will not live.”
53 tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”
54 tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.