10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, 14 then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 15 Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 16 men of the city were raising them.
10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard 17 and officers, “Come in and strike them down! Don’t let any escape!” So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there. 18 Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 19
11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned 20 the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians 21 and the royal bodyguard. 22 He met with them 23 in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement 24 with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.
1 tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”
2 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
3 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
4 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
5 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
6 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
7 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
11 sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.
12 tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.
13 tn 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.
14 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”
15 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
16 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.
17 tn Heb “runners.”
18 tn Heb “and they threw.” No object appears. According to M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 116), this is an idiom for leaving a corpse unburied.
19 tn Heb “and they came to the city of the house of Baal.” It seems unlikely that a literal city is meant. Some emend עִיר (’ir), “city,” to דְּבִיר (dÿvir) “holy place,” or suggest that עִיר is due to dittography of the immediately preceding עַד (’ad) “to.” Perhaps עִיר is here a technical term meaning “fortress” or, more likely, “inner room.”
20 tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”
21 sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.
22 tn Heb “the runners.”
23 tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”
24 tn Or “covenant.”
25 tn Heb “and she saw, and look.”
26 tn Or “conspiracy, conspiracy.”
27 tn Or “tore down.”
28 tn Or “images.”
29 tn The Hebrew construction translated “smashed…to bits” is emphatic. The adverbial infinitive absolute (הֵיטֵב [hetev], “well”) accompanying the Piel form of the verb שָׁבַר (shavar), “break,” suggests thorough demolition.
30 tn Heb “the priest.” Jehoiada’s name is added for clarification.
31 tn The object (“it all”) is supplied in the translation for clarification.
32 tn Heb “went up.”
33 tn Heb “the animal of the field.”
34 sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).
35 tn Heb “and Menahem brought out the silver over Israel, over the prominent men of means, to give to the king of Assyria, fifty shekels of silver for each man.”
36 tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”
37 tn Heb “the city was breached.”
38 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
39 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
40 sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
41 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.