¹ tn The words “if a decision is not made” are added for clarification.

² tn Heb “lies down with his fathers.”

³ tn Heb “I and my son Solomon.” The order has been reversed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Heb “will be guilty”; NASB “considered offenders”; TEV “treated as traitors.”

⁵ tn Heb “do loyalty with”; or “act faithfully toward.”

⁶ tn Heb “and let them be among the ones who eat [at] your table.”

⁷ tn Heb “drew near to.”

⁸ tn Or “revealed himself.”

⁹ tn Heb “ask.”

¹⁰ tn This statement is introduced in the Hebrew text by the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to and emphasizes what follows.

¹¹ tn Heb “I am doing according to your words.” The perfect tense is sometimes used of actions occurring at the same time a statement is made.

¹² tn This statement is introduced by the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to and emphasizes what follows. The translation assumes that the perfect tense here indicates that the action occurs as the statement is made (i.e., “right now I give you”).

¹³ tn Heb “heart.” (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

¹⁴ tn Heb “so that there has not been one like you prior to you, and after you one will not arise like you.”

¹⁵ tn The translation assumes that the perfect tense here indicates that the action occurs as the statement is made.

¹⁶ tn Heb “so that there is not one among the kings like you all your days.” The LXX lacks the words “all your days.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “walk in my ways.”

¹⁸ tn Or “keeping.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “walked.”

²⁰ tn Heb “I will lengthen your days.”

²¹ tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which the translation above seeks to reflect.

²² tn Heb “As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, by doing all which I commanded you, [and] you keep my rules and my regulations.” Verse 4 is actually a lengthy protasis (“if” section) of a conditional sentence, the apodosis (“then” section) of which appears in v. 5.

²³ tn Heb “about your words [or perhaps, “deeds”] and your wisdom.”

²⁴ tn Heb “the man of God.”

²⁵ tn Heb “the man of God.”

²⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7-11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7-9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10-11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.

²⁷ tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר (ba’ar) as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I am ready to sweep away Baasha and his family.” Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.

²⁸ tc The Old Greek, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum have here “his house.”

²⁹ tn Heb “Look, I have commanded.”

³⁰ tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”

sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.

³¹ tn Heb “to the people.”

³² tn Heb “I have kept in Israel seven thousand, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and all the mouths that have not kissed him.”

³³ tn Heb “house.”

³⁴ tn Heb “because of the provocation by which you angered [me], and you caused Israel to sin.”

³⁵ tn Or “swear an oath by.”

³⁶ tn Heb “the spirit.” The significance of the article prefixed to רוּחַ (ruakh) is uncertain, but it could contain a clue as to this spirit’s identity, especially when interpreted in light of v. 24. It is certainly possible, and probably even likely, that the article is used in a generic or dramatic sense and should be translated, “a spirit.” In the latter case it would show that this spirit was vivid and definite in the mind of Micaiah the storyteller. However, if one insists that the article indicates a well-known or universally known spirit, the following context provides a likely referent. Verse 24 tells how Zedekiah slapped Micaiah in the face and then asked sarcastically, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord (רוּחַ־יְהוָה, [ruakh-Yahweh], Heb “the spirit of the Lord”) go when he went from me to speak to you?” When the phrase “the spirit of the Lord” refers to the divine spirit (rather than the divine breath or mind, Isa 40:7, 13) elsewhere, the spirit energizes an individual or group for special tasks or moves one to prophesy. This raises the possibility that the deceiving spirit of vv. 20-23 is the same as the divine spirit mentioned by Zedekiah in v. 24. This would explain why the article is used on רוּחַ; he can be called “the spirit” because he is the well-known spirit who energizes the prophets.

³⁷ tn Heb “the bread of affliction and the water of affliction.”

³⁸ tn Heb “come in peace.” So also in v. 28.