2 Kings 9:15

9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ¹  when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. ²  Jehu told his supporters, ³  “If you really want me to be king, ⁴  then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”

2 Kings 10:25

10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard ⁵  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. ⁶  Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. ⁷ 

2 Kings 25:4

25:4 The enemy broke through the city walls, ⁸  and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. ⁹  They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ¹⁰  (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”

² sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.

³ tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “runners.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.”

⁸ tn Heb “the city was breached.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.