2 Kings 5:7
5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease? 1 Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!” 2
2 Kings 7:4
7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, 3 and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect 4 to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, 5 we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.” 6
2 Kings 8:12
8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”
1 tn Heb “Am I God, killing and restoring life, that this one sends to me to cure a man from his skin disease?” In the Hebrew text this is one lengthy rhetorical question, which has been divided up in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “Indeed, know and see that he is seeking an occasion with respect to me.”
3 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
4 tn Heb “fall.”
5 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
6 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.