Discovery Box2 Kings 1:13 
Context1:13 The king 1 sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell 2 on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.
2 Kings 3:7
Context3:7 He sent 3 this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you fight with me against Moab?” Jehoshaphat 4 replied, “I will join you in the campaign; my army and horses are at your disposal.” 5
2 Kings 3:11
Context3:11 Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?” 6 One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” 7
2 Kings 3:13
Context3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why are you here? 8 Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets!” The king of Israel replied to him, “No, for the Lord is the one who summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to Moab.”
2 Kings 3:27
Context3:27 So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel, 9 so they broke off the attack 10 and returned to their homeland.
2 Kings 4:27
Context4:27 But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset. 11 The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.”
2 Kings 5:13
Context5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, 12 if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, 13 you would have been willing to do it. 14 It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” 15
2 Kings 5:18
Context5:18 May the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my arm and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” 16
2 Kings 6:22
Context6:22 He replied, “Do not strike them down! You did not capture them with your sword or bow, so what gives you the right to strike them down? 17 Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.”
2 Kings 6:32
Context6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. 18 The king 19 sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, 20 Elisha 21 said to the leaders, 22 “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” 23 Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” 24
2 Kings 7:17
Context7:17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man 25 at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. 26 This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him. 27
2 Kings 8:1
Context8:1 Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, 28 for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”
2 Kings 8:5
Context8:5 While Gehazi 29 was telling the king how Elisha 30 had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. 31 Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”
2 Kings 8:12
Context8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”
2 Kings 10:6
Context10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, 32 then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 33 Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 34 men of the city were raising them.
2 Kings 10:13
Context10:13 Jehu encountered 35 the relatives 36 of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are Ahaziah’s relatives. We have come down to see how 37 the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons are doing.”
2 Kings 10:19
Context10:19 So now, bring to me all the prophets of Baal, as well as all his servants and priests. 38 None of them must be absent, for I am offering a great sacrifice to Baal. Any of them who fail to appear will lose their lives.” But Jehu was tricking them 39 so he could destroy the servants of Baal.
2 Kings 10:25
Context10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard 40 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. 41 Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 42
2 Kings 11:2
Context11:2 So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked 43 him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. 44 So he was hidden from Athaliah and escaped execution. 45
2 Kings 11:15
Context11:15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, 46 “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. 47 Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple. 48
2 Kings 11:19
Context11:19 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, 49 and the king 50 sat down on the royal throne.
2 Kings 12:9
Context12:9 Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of 51 the Lord’s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the Lord’s temple.
2 Kings 12:18
Context12:18 King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all 52 to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew 53 from Jerusalem.
2 Kings 14:13
Context14:13 King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He 54 attacked 55 Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate – a distance of about six hundred feet. 56
2 Kings 14:25
Context14:25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, 57 in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through 58 his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.
2 Kings 17:6
Context17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel 59 to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.
2 Kings 17:26
Context17:26 The king of Assyria was told, 60 “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people 61 because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.”
2 Kings 20:20
Context20:20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring 62 water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 63
2 Kings 23:2
Context23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud 64 all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple.
2 Kings 23:5
Context23:5 He eliminated 65 the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices 66 on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices 67 to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)
2 Kings 23:12
Context23:12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up 68 and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.
2 Kings 23:24
Context23:24 Josiah also got rid of 69 the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 70 the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 71 and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 72 recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.
2 Kings 23:35
Context23:35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh the required amount of silver and gold, but to meet Pharaoh’s demands Jehoiakim had to tax the land. He collected an assessed amount from each man among the people of the land in order to pay Pharaoh Necho. 73
2 Kings 24:13-14
Context24:13 Nebuchadnezzar 74 took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 24:14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.
2 Kings 25:1
Context25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside 75 it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 76
2 Kings 25:19
Context25:19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five 77 of the king’s advisers 78 who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens 79 for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.
2 Kings 25:24
Context25:24 Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. 80 He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”
3 tn Heb “went and sent.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoshaphat) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “I will go up – like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”
6 tn Heb “that we might inquire of the
7 tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.
8 tn Or “What do we have in common?” The text reads literally, “What to me and to you?”
9 tn Heb “there was great anger against Israel.”
sn The meaning of this statement is uncertain, for the subject of the anger is not indicated. Except for two relatively late texts, the noun קֶצֶף (qetsef) refers to an outburst of divine anger. But it seems unlikely the Lord would be angry with Israel, for he placed his stamp of approval on the campaign (vv. 16-19). D. N. Freedman suggests the narrator, who obviously has a bias against the Omride dynasty, included this observation to show that the Lord would not allow the Israelite king to “have an undiluted victory” (as quoted in M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 52, n. 8). Some suggest that the original source identified Chemosh the Moabite god as the subject and that his name was later suppressed by a conscientious scribe, but this proposal raises more questions than it answers. For a discussion of various views, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 47-48, 51-52.
10 tn Heb “they departed from him.”
11 tn Heb “her soul [i.e., ‘disposition’] is bitter.”
12 tn Heb “my father,” reflecting the perspective of each individual servant. To address their master as “father” would emphasize his authority and express their respect. See BDB 3 s.v. אָב and the similar idiomatic use of “father” in 2 Kgs 2:12.
13 tn Heb “a great thing.”
14 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”
15 tn Heb “How much more [when] he said, “Wash and be healed.” The second imperative (“be healed”) states the expected result of obeying the first (‘wash”).
16 tn Heb “When my master enters the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he leans on my hand and I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, when I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, may the
sn Rimmon was the Syrian storm god. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.
17 tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”
18 tn Heb “and the elders were sitting with him.”
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “sent a man from before him, before the messenger came to him.”
21 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Heb “elders.”
23 tn Heb “Do you see that this son of an assassin has sent to remove my head?”
24 tn Heb “Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
25 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
26 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
27 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
28 tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”
29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”
sn The legal background of the situation is uncertain. For a discussion of possibilities, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 87-88.
32 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”
33 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
34 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.
35 tn Heb “found.”
36 tn Or “brothers.”
37 tn Heb “for the peace of.”
38 tn Heb “and now, all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests summon to me.”
39 tn Heb “acted with deception [or, ‘trickery’].”
40 tn Heb “runners.”
41 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.
42 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.”
43 tn Heb “stole.”
44 tn Heb “him and his nurse in an inner room of beds.” The verb is missing in the Hebrew text. The parallel passage in 2 Chr 22:11 has “and she put” at the beginning of the clause. M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 126) regard the Chronicles passage as an editorial attempt to clarify the difficulty of the original text. They prefer to take “him and his nurse” as objects of the verb “stole” and understand “in the bedroom” as the place where the royal descendants were executed. The phrase בַּחֲדַר הַמִּטּוֹת (bakhadar hammittot), “an inner room of beds,” is sometimes understood as referring to a bedroom (HALOT 293 s.v. חֶדֶר), though some prefer to see here a “room where the covers and cloths were kept for the beds (HALOT 573 s.v. מִטָּת). In either case, it may have been a temporary hideout, for v. 3 indicates that the child hid in the temple for six years.
45 tn Heb “and they hid him from Athaliah and he was not put to death.” The subject of the plural verb (“they hid”) is probably indefinite.
46 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.
47 tn Heb “ranks.”
48 tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the
49 tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”
50 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
51 tn Heb “on the right side of the altar as a man enters.”
52 tn The object (“it all”) is supplied in the translation for clarification.
53 tn Heb “went up.”
54 tc The MT has the plural form of the verb, but the final vav (ו) is virtually dittographic. The word that immediately follows in the Hebrew text begins with a yod (י). The form should be emended to the singular, which is consistent in number with the verb (“he broke down”) that follows.
55 tn Heb “came to.”
56 tn Heb “four hundred cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
57 tn The phrases “in the north” and “in the south” are added in the translation for clarification.
58 tn Heb “which he spoke by the hand of.”
59 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.
60 tn Heb “and they said to the king of Assyria, saying.” The plural subject of the verb is indefinite.
61 tn Heb “Look they are killing them.”
62 tn Heb “and he brought.”
63 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Hezekiah, and all his strength, and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water to the city, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
64 tn Heb “read in their ears.”
65 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
66 tn Or “burn incense.”
67 tn Or “burned incense.”
68 tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.
69 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.
70 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.
71 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
72 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”
73 tn Heb “And the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the silver at the command of Pharaoh, [from] each according to his tax he collected the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Necho.”
74 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nebuchadnezzar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
75 tn Or “against.”
76 sn This would have been Jan 15, 588
77 tn The parallel passage in Jer 52:25 has “seven.”
78 tn Heb “five seers of the king’s face.”
79 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
80 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
