2 Kings 7:10

7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers 1  of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. 2  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” 3 

2 Kings 10:25

10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard 4  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. 5  Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 6 

2 Kings 11:19

11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, 7  and the king 8  sat down on the royal throne.

1 tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

2 tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

3 tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

4 tn Heb “runners.”

5 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.

6 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.”

7 tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

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