2 Kings 2:16

2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord ¹  may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha ²  replied, “Don’t send them out.”

2 Kings 19:26

19:26 Their residents are powerless, ³ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field,

or green vegetation. ⁴ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ⁵ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Or “the spirit of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “short of hand.”

⁴ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

⁵ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

⁶ tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah), “standing grain,” to קָדִים (qadim), “east wind” (with the support of 1Q Isa^a in Isa 37:27).