Discovery Box2 Kings 5:13 
Context5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, 1 if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, 2 you would have been willing to do it. 3 It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” 4
2 Kings 7:6
Context7:6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!”
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, 5 for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”
2 Kings 9:15
Context9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians 6 when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. 7 Jehu told his supporters, 8 “If you really want me to be king, 9 then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”
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, 10 then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” 11 Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent 12 men of the city were raising them.
2 Kings 10:15
Context10:15 When he left there, he met 13 Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him. 14 Jehu greeted him and asked, 15 “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?” 16 Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.” 17 So he offered his hand and Jehu 18 pulled him up into the chariot.
2 Kings 11:15
Context11:15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, 19 “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. 20 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. 21
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 22 to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew 23 from Jerusalem.
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 24 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 25 the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices 26 on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices 27 to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)
2 Kings 23:8
Context23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 28 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 29 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 30 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
2 Kings 23:11
Context23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses 31 that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) 32 He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. 33
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. 34
2 Kings 25:17
Context25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet 35 high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet 36 high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
2 Kings 25:23
Context25:23 All of the officers of the Judahite army 37 and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.
1 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.
2 tn Heb “a great thing.”
3 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”
4 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”).
5 tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”
6 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
7 sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.
8 tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.
9 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.
10 tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”
11 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
12 tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.
13 tn Heb “found.”
14 tn Heb “and he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab [who was coming] to meet him.”
15 tn Heb “and he blessed him and said to him.”
16 tn Heb “Is there with your heart [what is] right, as my heart [is] with your heart?”
17 tc Heb “Jehonadab said, ‘There is and there is. Give your hand.’” If the text is allowed to stand, there are two possible ways to understand the syntax of וָיֵשׁ (vayesh), “and there is”: (1) The repetition of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is and there is”) could be taken as emphatic, “indeed I am.” In this case, the entire statement could be taken as Jehonadab’s words or one could understand the words “give your hand” as Jehu’s. In the latter case the change in speakers is unmarked. (2) וָיֵשׁ begins Jehu’s response and has a conditional force, “if you are.” In this case, the transition in speakers is unmarked. However, it is possible that וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer), “and he said,” or וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא (vayyo’mer yehu), “and Jehu said,” originally appeared between יֵשׁ and וָיֵשׁ and has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note that both the proposed וַיֹּאמֶר and וָיֵשׁ begin with vav, ו). The present translation assumes such a textual reconstruction; it is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.
18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.
20 tn Heb “ranks.”
21 tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the
22 tn The object (“it all”) is supplied in the translation for clarification.
23 tn Heb “went up.”
24 tn Heb “read in their ears.”
25 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
26 tn Or “burn incense.”
27 tn Or “burned incense.”
28 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
29 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
30 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.
31 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”
33 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
34 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.”
35 tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
36 tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”
37 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
