2 Kings 13:4-7

13:4 Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy ¹  and the Lord responded favorably, ²  for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria. ³  13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer ⁴  for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. ⁵  The Israelites once more lived in security. ⁶  13:6 But they did not repudiate ⁷  the sinful ways of the family ⁸  of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. ⁹  There was even an Asherah pole ¹⁰  standing in Samaria. 13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ¹¹  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ¹²  and trampled on them like dust. ¹³ 

2 Kings 13:23

13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ¹⁴  He extended his favor to them ¹⁵  because of the promise he had made ¹⁶  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ¹⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “and the Lord heard.”

³ tn Heb “for he saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Syria oppressed them.”

⁴ sn The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 143.

⁵ tn Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”

⁶ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”

⁷ tn Heb “they did not turn away from.”

⁸ tn Heb “house.”

⁹ tc Heb “in it he walked.” The singular verb (הָלַךְ, halakh) is probably due to an error of haplography and should be emended to the plural (הָלְכּוּ, halÿku). Note that a vav immediately follows (on the form וְגַם, vÿgam).

¹⁰ tn Or “an image of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “the Asherah”; NCV “the Asherah idol.”

sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

¹¹ tn Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.

¹² tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

¹³ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

¹⁴ tn Or “showed them compassion.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “he turned to them.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “until now.”