2 Kings 13:5

13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer ¹  for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. ²  The Israelites once more lived in security. ³ 

2 Kings 17:9

17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ⁴  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ⁵ 

2 Kings 21:2

21:2 He did evil in the sight of ⁶  the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations ⁷  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

2 Kings 21:9

21:9 But they did not obey, ⁸  and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

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¹ sn The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 143.

² tn Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”

³ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”

⁴ tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayÿkhappÿ’u), translated here “said,” is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root חָפַה (khafah), “to cover,” and translate “they did it in secret” (see BDB 341 s.v. חָפָא). However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning “ascribe, impute,” which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support (see HALOT 339 s.v. חפא). In this case Israel claimed that the Lord authorized their pagan practices.

⁵ sn That is, from the city’s perimeter to the central citadel.

⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

⁷ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

⁸ tn Heb “listen.”