Discovery Box2 Kings 9:11-17 
Context9:11 When Jehu rejoined 1 his master’s servants, they 2 asked him, “Is everything all right? 3 Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” 4 9:12 But they said, “You’re lying! Tell us what he said.” So he told them what he had said. He also related how he had said, 5 “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have designated you as king over Israel.’” 9:13 Each of them quickly took off his cloak and they spread them out at Jehu’s 6 feet on the steps. 7 The trumpet was blown 8 and they shouted, “Jehu is 9 king!” 9:14 Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.
Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army, 10 guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria. 9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians 11 when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. 12 Jehu told his supporters, 13 “If you really want me to be king, 14 then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.” 9:16 Jehu drove his chariot 15 to Jezreel, for Joram was recuperating 16 there. (Now King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit 17 Joram.)
9:17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s troops approaching. 18 He said, “I see troops!” 19 Jehoram ordered, 20 “Send a rider out to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is everything all right?’” 21
1 tn Heb “went out to.”
2 tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.
3 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
4 tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.
5 tn Heb “So he said, ‘Like this and like this he said to me, saying.’” The words “like this and like this” are probably not a direct quote of Jehu’s words to his colleagues. Rather this is the narrator’s way of avoiding repetition and indicating that Jehu repeated, or at least summarized, what the prophet had said to him.
6 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “and they hurried and took, each one his garment, and they placed [them] beneath him on the bone [?] of the steps.” The precise nuance of גֶרֶם (gerem), “bone,” is unclear. Some suggest the nuance “bare” here; it may be a technical architectural term in this context.
8 tn Heb “they blew the trumpet.” This has been translated as a passive to avoid the implication that the same ones who shouted had all blown trumpets.
9 tn Or “has become.”
10 tn Heb “he and all Israel.”
11 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
12 sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.
13 tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.
14 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.
15 tn Heb “rode [or, ‘mounted’] and went.”
16 tn Heb “lying down.”
17 tn Heb “to see.”
18 tn Heb “the quantity [of the men] of Jehu, when he approached.” Elsewhere שִׁפְעַה (shif’ah), “quantity,” is used of a quantity of camels (Isa 60:6) or horses (Ezek 26:10) and of an abundance of water (Job 22:11; 38:34).
19 tn The term שִׁפְעַת (shifat) appears to be a construct form of the noun, but no genitive follows.
20 tn Heb “said.”
21 tn Heb “Get a rider and send [him] to meet him and let him ask, ‘Is there peace?’”
