2 Kings 5:13

5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, 1  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, 2  you would have been willing to do it. 3  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” 4 

2 Kings 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, 5  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 6  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 7  men of the city were raising them.

1 tn Heb “my father,” reflecting the perspective of each individual servant. To address their master as “father” would emphasize his authority and express their respect. See BDB 3 s.v. אָב and the similar idiomatic use of “father” in 2 Kgs 2:12.

2 tn Heb “a great thing.”

3 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”

4 tn Heb “How much more [when] he said, “Wash and be healed.” The second imperative (“be healed”) states the expected result of obeying the first (‘wash”).

5 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

6 sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

7 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.