2 Kings 2:24

2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

2 Kings 17:34

17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship ²  the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave ³  the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel.

2 Kings 23:11

23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ⁴  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ⁵  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ⁶ 

2 Kings 24:13

24:13 Nebuchadnezzar ⁷  took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned.

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¹ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

² tn Heb “fear.”

³ tn Heb “commanded.”

⁴ tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁵ 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.”

⁶ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”

⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nebuchadnezzar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.