2 Kings 3:25

3:25 They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. 1  They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree.

Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, 2  but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

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? 3  Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

2 Kings 10:25

10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard 4  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. 5  Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 6 

2 Kings 11:19

11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, 7  and the king 8  sat down on the royal throne.

1 tn Heb “and [on] every good portion they were throwing each man his stone and they filled it.” The vav + perfect (“and they filled”) here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause (where a customary imperfect is used, “they were throwing”). See the note at 3:4.

2 tn Heb “until he had allowed its stones to remain in Kir Hareseth.”

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

4 tn Heb “runners.”

5 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.

6 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.”

7 tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

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