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 5:13

5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ³  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ⁴  you would have been willing to do it. ⁵  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁶ 

2 Kings 5:18

5:18 May the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my arm and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” ⁷ 

2 Kings 6:22

6:22 He replied, “Do not strike them down! You did not capture them with your sword or bow, so what gives you the right to strike them down? ⁸  Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

2 Kings 6:32

6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. ⁹  The king ¹⁰  sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, ¹¹  Elisha ¹²  said to the leaders, ¹³  “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” ¹⁴  Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 8:5

8:5 While Gehazi ¹⁶  was telling the king how Elisha ¹⁷  had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. ¹⁸  Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”

2 Kings 8:12

8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”

2 Kings 9:11

9:11 When Jehu rejoined ¹⁹  his master’s servants, they ²⁰  asked him, “Is everything all right? ²¹  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.” ²² 

2 Kings 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ²³  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ²⁴  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ²⁵  men of the city were raising them.

2 Kings 19:4

19:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ²⁶  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ²⁷  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ²⁸ 

2 Kings 19:23

19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ²⁹ 

‘With my many chariots ³⁰ 

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, ³¹ 

its thickest woods.

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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 “my father,” reflecting the perspective of each individual servant. To address their master as “father” would emphasize his authority and express their respect. See BDB 3 s.v. אָב and the similar idiomatic use of “father” in 2 Kgs 2:12.

⁴ tn Heb “a great thing.”

⁵ tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”

⁶ tn Heb “How much more [when] he said, “Wash and be healed.” The second imperative (“be healed”) states the expected result of obeying the first (‘wash”).

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 Lord forgive your servant for this thing.”

sn Rimmon was the Syrian storm god. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.

⁸ tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”

⁹ tn Heb “and the elders were sitting with him.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “sent a man from before him, before the messenger came to him.”

¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “elders.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Do you see that this son of an assassin has sent to remove my head?”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”

sn The legal background of the situation is uncertain. For a discussion of possibilities, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 87-88.

¹⁹ tn Heb “went out to.”

²⁰ tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.

²¹ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

²² 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.

²³ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

²⁴ 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 mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

²⁵ tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.

²⁶ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

²⁷ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

²⁸ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

²⁹ tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”

³⁰ 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 mss and ancient versions, as well as the parallel passage in Isa 37:24.

³¹ tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”