¹ tc The last sentence of v. 25 is absent in the Syriac Peshitta.

² tn Or “slaughtered.”

³ tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”

⁴ tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the Lord” (יְהוָה, Yahweh), they stop short of actually using this name and substitute the title אֲדֹנָי (’adonai, “lord; master”). This ambiguity may explain in part Jehoshaphat’s hesitancy and caution (vv. 7-8). He seems to doubt that the four hundred are genuine prophets of the Lord.

⁵ tn Heb “were sitting, a man on his throne.”

⁶ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

⁷ tn Heb “the words of the prophets are [with] one mouth good for the king.”

⁸ tn Heb “let your words be like the word of each of them and speak good.”

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has two imperfects connected by וְגַם (vÿgam). These verbs could be translated as specific futures, “you will deceive and also you will prevail,” in which case the Lord is assuring the spirit of success on his mission. However, in a commissioning context (note the following imperatives) such as this, it is more likely that the imperfects are injunctive, in which case one could translate, “Deceive, and also overpower.”