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 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man⁵ responded to the prophet,⁶ “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”⁷ Elisha⁸ said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”⁹

2 Kings 7:9

7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone.¹⁰ If we wait until dawn,¹¹ we’ll be punished.¹² So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.”

2 Kings 7:13

7:13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!)¹³ Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”¹⁴

2 Kings 7:19

7:19 But the officer replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”¹⁵ Elisha¹⁶ said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”¹⁷

2 Kings 9:15

9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians¹⁸ when he fought against King Hazael of Syria.¹⁹ Jehu told his supporters,²⁰ “If you really want me to be king,²¹ then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”

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,²² then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.”²³ Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent²⁴ men of the city were raising them.

2 Kings 10:15

10:15 When he left there, he met²⁵ Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him.²⁶ Jehu greeted him and asked,²⁷ “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?”²⁸ Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.”²⁹ So he offered his hand and Jehu³⁰ pulled him up into the chariot.

2 Kings 18:14

18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty.³¹ If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.”³² So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents³³ of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2 Kings 18:21

18:21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.

¹tn 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.

²tn Heb “a great thing.”

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

⁴tn 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”).

⁵tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

⁶tn Heb “man of God.”

⁷tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

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

⁹tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

¹⁰tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”

¹¹tn Heb “the light of the morning.”

¹²tn Heb “punishment will find us.”

¹³tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”

¹⁴tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”

¹⁵tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.

¹⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.

¹⁸tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”

¹⁹sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.

²⁰tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.

²¹tn Heb “If this is your desire.” נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers here to the seat of the emotions and will. For other examples of this use of the word, see BDB 660-61 s.v.

²²tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

²³sn 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).

²⁴tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.

²⁵tn Heb “found.”

²⁶tn Heb “and he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab [who was coming] to meet him.”

²⁷tn Heb “and he blessed him and said to him.”

²⁸tn Heb “Is there with your heart [what is] right, as my heart [is] with your heart?”

²⁹tc Heb “Jehonadab said, ‘There is and there is. Give your hand.’” If the text is allowed to stand, there are two possible ways to understand the syntax of וָיֵשׁ (vayesh), “and there is”: (1) The repetition of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is and there is”) could be taken as emphatic, “indeed I am.” In this case, the entire statement could be taken as Jehonadab’s words or one could understand the words “give your hand” as Jehu’s. In the latter case the change in speakers is unmarked. (2) וָיֵשׁ begins Jehu’s response and has a conditional force, “if you are.” In this case, the transition in speakers is unmarked. However, it is possible that וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer), “and he said,” or וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא (vayyo’mer yehu), “and Jehu said,” originally appeared between יֵשׁ and וָיֵשׁ and has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note that both the proposed וַיֹּאמֶר and וָיֵשׁ begin with vav, ו). The present translation assumes such a textual reconstruction; it is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

³⁰tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³¹tn Or “I have done wrong.”

³²tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”

³³tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.