9:17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s troops approaching. 4 He said, “I see troops!” 5 Jehoram ordered, 6 “Send a rider out to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is everything all right?’” 7 9:18 So the horseman 8 went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” 9 Jehu replied, “None of your business! 10 Follow me.” The watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but hasn’t started back.” 9:19 So he sent a second horseman out to them 11 and he said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” 12 Jehu replied, “None of your business! Follow me.”
1 tn Heb “peace.”
2 tn Heb “Look now, here, two servants came to me from the Ephraimite hill country, from the sons of the prophets.”
3 tn 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 75 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).
4 tn Heb “the quantity [of the men] of Jehu, when he approached.” Elsewhere שִׁפְעַה (shif’ah), “quantity,” is used of a quantity of camels (Isa 60:6) or horses (Ezek 26:10) and of an abundance of water (Job 22:11; 38:34).
5 tn The term שִׁפְעַת (shifat) appears to be a construct form of the noun, but no genitive follows.
6 tn Heb “said.”
7 tn Heb “Get a rider and send [him] to meet him and let him ask, ‘Is there peace?’”
8 tn Heb “the rider of the horse.”
9 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
10 tn Heb “What concerning you and concerning peace?” That is, “What concern is that to you?”
11 tn Heb “and he came to them.”
12 tc The MT has simply “peace,” omitting the prefixed interrogative particle. It is likely that the particle has been accidentally omitted; several ancient witnesses include it or assume its presence.
13 tn Heb “days are.”