2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, 1 who were standing at a distance, 2 saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah 3 rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, 5 but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.
10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, 20 then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 21 Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 22 men of the city were raising them.
23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, 34 and the guards 35 to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of 36 Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. 37 The king 38 burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces 39 of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 40
1 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
2 tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”
3 tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”
4 tn Heb “and [on] every good portion they were throwing each man his stone and they filled it.” The vav + perfect (“and they filled”) here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause (where a customary imperfect is used, “they were throwing”). See the note at 3:4.
5 tn Heb “until he had allowed its stones to remain in Kir Hareseth.”
6 tn Heb “a vine of the field.”
7 tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”
8 tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”
9 tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
10 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
11 tn Heb “fall.”
12 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
13 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
14 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
15 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
16 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
17 tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”
18 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
19 tn Heb “said to.”
20 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”
21 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
22 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.
23 tn Heb “and she saw, and look.”
24 tn Or “conspiracy, conspiracy.”
25 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.
26 tn Heb “ranks.”
27 tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the
28 tn Heb “and it so happened [that] they.”
29 tn Heb “and look, they saw.”
30 tn Heb “the man”; the adjective “dead” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Heb “the man.”
32 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the dead man) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Otherwise the reader might think it was Elisha rather than the unnamed dead man who came back to life.
33 tn Heb “read in their ears.”
34 tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.
35 tn Or “doorkeepers.”
36 tn Heb “for.”
37 tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).
38 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
39 tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.
40 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
41 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
42 tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”
43 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
44 tn Heb “the city was breached.”
45 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
46 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
47 sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
48 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
49 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
50 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
51 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”