4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet 9 – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. 10 Elisha 11 said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.”
7:17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man 24 at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. 25 This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him. 26
9:11 When Jehu rejoined 27 his master’s servants, they 28 asked him, “Is everything all right? 29 Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” 30 9:12 But they said, “You’re lying! Tell us what he said.” So he told them what he had said. He also related how he had said, 31 “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have designated you as king over Israel.’”
9:27 When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off 36 up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, “Shoot him too.” They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam. 37 He fled to Megiddo 38 and died there.
10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard 42 and officers, “Come in and strike them down! Don’t let any escape!” So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there. 43 Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 44
22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. 47 (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh 48 district.) They stated their business, 49
1 tn Or “the spirit of the
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “there was great anger against Israel.”
sn The meaning of this statement is uncertain, for the subject of the anger is not indicated. Except for two relatively late texts, the noun קֶצֶף (qetsef) refers to an outburst of divine anger. But it seems unlikely the Lord would be angry with Israel, for he placed his stamp of approval on the campaign (vv. 16-19). D. N. Freedman suggests the narrator, who obviously has a bias against the Omride dynasty, included this observation to show that the Lord would not allow the Israelite king to “have an undiluted victory” (as quoted in M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 52, n. 8). Some suggest that the original source identified Chemosh the Moabite god as the subject and that his name was later suppressed by a conscientious scribe, but this proposal raises more questions than it answers. For a discussion of various views, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 47-48, 51-52.
4 tn Heb “they departed from him.”
5 tn Heb “a vine of the field.”
6 tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”
7 tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”
8 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.
9 tn Heb “man of God.”
10 tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”
13 tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”
14 tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”
15 tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
16 sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.
17 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 79) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.
18 tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
19 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
20 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
21 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
22 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.”
23 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
24 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
25 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
26 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
27 tn Heb “went out to.”
28 tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.
29 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
30 tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.
31 tn Heb “So he said, ‘Like this and like this he said to me, saying.’” The words “like this and like this” are probably not a direct quote of Jehu’s words to his colleagues. Rather this is the narrator’s way of avoiding repetition and indicating that Jehu repeated, or at least summarized, what the prophet had said to him.
32 tn The words “my chariot” are added for clarification.
33 tn Heb “and he hitched up his chariot.”
34 tn Heb “each in his chariot and they went out.”
35 tn Heb “they found him.”
36 tn Heb “and Ahaziah king of Judah saw and fled.”
37 tn After Jehu’s order (“kill him too”), the MT has simply, “to the chariot in the ascent of Gur which is near Ibleam.” The main verb in the clause, “they shot him” (וַיִּכְהוּ, vayyikhhu), has been accidentally omitted by virtual haplography/homoioteleuton. Note that the immediately preceding form הַכֻּהוּ (hakkuhu), “shoot him,” ends with the same suffix.
38 map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.
39 tn Heb “found.”
40 tn Or “brothers.”
41 tn Heb “for the peace of.”
42 tn Heb “runners.”
43 tn Heb “and they threw.” No object appears. According to M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 116), this is an idiom for leaving a corpse unburied.
44 tn Heb “and they came to the city of the house of Baal.” It seems unlikely that a literal city is meant. Some emend עִיר (’ir), “city,” to דְּבִיר (dÿvir) “holy place,” or suggest that עִיר is due to dittography of the immediately preceding עַד (’ad) “to.” Perhaps עִיר is here a technical term meaning “fortress” or, more likely, “inner room.”
45 tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.
46 tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”
sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.
47 tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”
48 tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.
49 tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”
50 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
51 tn Or “burn incense.”
52 tn Or “burned incense.”
53 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
54 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.”
55 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
56 tn Heb “him, dead.”
57 tn Or “anointed him.”
58 tn Or “against.”
59 sn This would have been Jan 15, 588
60 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.