2 Kings 2:9-10

2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you, ¹  before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.” ²  2:10 Elijah ³  replied, “That’s a difficult request! ⁴  If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

2 Kings 11:6

11:6 Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation ⁵  Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. ⁶  You will take turns guarding the palace. ⁷ 

2 Kings 11:8

11:8 You must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever approaches your ranks must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes.” ⁸ 

2 Kings 13:19

13:19 The prophet ⁹  got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! ¹⁰  But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.”

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¹ tn Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”

² tn Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “You have made difficult [your] request.”

⁵ tn Heb “the gate of Sur” (followed by many English versions) but no such gate is mentioned elsewhere in the OT. The parallel account in 2 Chr 23:5 has “Foundation Gate.” סוּר (sur), “Sur,” may be a corruption of יְסוֹד (yÿsod) “foundation,” involving in part dalet-resh confusion.

⁶ tn Heb “the runners.”

⁷ tn The meaning of מַסָּח (massakh) is not certain. The translation above, rather than understanding it as a genitive modifying “house,” takes it as an adverb describing how the groups will guard the palace. See HALOT 605 s.v. מַסָּח for the proposed meaning “alternating” (i.e., “in turns”).

⁸ tn Heb “and be with the king in his going out and in his coming in.”

⁹ tn Heb “man of God.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “[It was necessary] to strike five or six times, then you would strike down Syria until destruction.” On the syntax of the infinitive construct, see GKC 349 §114.k.