2 Kings 5:1

Elisha Heals a Syrian General

5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, ¹  for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. ² 

2 Kings 6:15

6:15 The prophet’s ³  attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, ⁴  “Oh no, my master! What will we do?”

2 Kings 8:21

8:21 Joram ⁵  crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. ⁶  The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. ⁷ 

2 Kings 9:5

9:5 When he arrived, the officers of the army were sitting there. ⁸  So he said, “I have a message for you, O officer.” ⁹  Jehu asked, “For which one of us?” ¹⁰  He replied, “For you, O officer.”

2 Kings 9:14

9:14 Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.

Jehu the Assassin

Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army, ¹¹  guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria.

2 Kings 13:7

13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ¹²  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ¹³  and trampled on them like dust. ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 25:26

25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for ¹⁵  Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.

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¹ tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”

² tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (mÿtsora’), traditionally translated “leprous,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 63. Naaman probably had a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.

³ tn Heb “man of God’s.”

⁴ tn Heb “his young servant said to him.”

⁵ sn Joram is a short form of the name Jehoram.

⁶ tn Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Joram was surrounded and launched a victorious night counterattack. It would then be quite natural to understand the last statement in the verse to refer to an Edomite retreat. Yet v. 22 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. Therefore, if the MT is retained, it may be better to understand the final statement in v. 21 as a reference to an Israelite retreat (made in spite of the success described in the preceding sentence). The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֶתוֹ [’eto], “him,” instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. There is, however, no evidence for this emendation.

⁷ tn Heb “and the people fled to their tents.”

⁸ tn Heb “and he arrived and look, the officers of the army were sitting.”

⁹ tn Heb “[there is] a word for me to you, O officer.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “To whom from all of us?”

¹¹ tn Heb “he and all Israel.”

¹² tn Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.

¹³ tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “arose and went to.”