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.
19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, 24
‘With my many chariots 25
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, 26
its thickest woods.
23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 29 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 30 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 31 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel 33 at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. 34 He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. 35
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 “he went up and lay down over.”
5 tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).
6 tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”
7 tn Heb “When my master enters the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he leans on my hand and I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, when I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, may the
sn Rimmon was the Syrian storm god. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “Did not my heart go as a man turned from his chariot to meet you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes that he was indeed present in “heart” (or “spirit”) and was very much aware of what Gehazi had done. In the MT the interrogative particle has been accidentally omitted before the negative particle.
10 tn In the MT the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Is this the time…?” It expects an emphatic negative response.
11 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
12 tn Heb “to see.”
13 tn Heb “found.”
14 tn Or “brothers.”
15 tn Heb “for the peace of.”
16 tn Heb “the animal of the field.”
17 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).
18 tc The MT has the plural form of the verb, but the final vav (ו) is virtually dittographic. The word that immediately follows in the Hebrew text begins with a yod (י). The form should be emended to the singular, which is consistent in number with the verb (“he broke down”) that follows.
19 tn Heb “came to.”
20 tn Heb “four hundred cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
21 tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.
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).
22 tn Heb “until those days.”
23 tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”
24 tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew
25 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
26 tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”
27 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.
28 tn Or “served.”
29 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
30 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
31 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.
32 tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.
33 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
34 tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.
35 tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.
36 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.