2 Kings 4:1

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets 1  appealed 2  to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. 3  Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”

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.” 4 

1 tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”

2 tn Or “cried out.”

3 tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

4 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.