4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet 1 – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. 2 Elisha 3 said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.”
19:29 4 This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: 5 This year you will eat what grows wild, 6 and next year 7 what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. 8
1 tn Heb “man of God.”
2 tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).
5 tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.
6 sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.
7 tn Heb “and in the second year.”
8 tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.