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2 Kings 3:1-8:15
New English Translation

Moab Fights with Israel

3 In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahab’s son Jehoram became king over Israel in Samaria; he ruled for twelve years. 2 He did evil in the sight of[a] the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Yet he persisted in[b] the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin; he did not turn from them.[c]

4 Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder.[d] He would send as tribute[e] to the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5 When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 At that time King Jehoram left Samaria and assembled all Israel for war. 7 He sent[f] this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you fight with me against Moab?” Jehoshaphat[g] replied, “I will join you in the campaign; my army and horses are at your disposal.”[h] 8 He then asked, “Which invasion route are we going to take?”[i] Jehoram[j] answered, “By the road through the wilderness of Edom.” 9 So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom[k] set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them. 10 The king of Israel said, “Oh no![l] Certainly the Lord has summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to the king of Moab!” 11 Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?”[m] One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.”[n] 12 Jehoshaphat said, “Yes, he receives the Lord’s messages.”[o] So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to visit him.

13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why are you here?[p] 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.” 14 Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[q] lives (whom I serve),[r] if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah,[s] I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you.[t] 15 But now, get me a musician.”[u] When the musician played, the Lord energized him,[v] 16 and he said, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Make many cisterns in this valley,’[w] 17 for this is what the Lord has said, ‘You will not feel[x] any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water, and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’ 18 This is an easy task for the Lord;[y] he will also hand Moab over to you. 19 You will defeat every fortified city and every important[z] city. You must chop down[aa] every productive[ab] tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones.”[ac]

20 Sure enough, the next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water came flowing down from Edom and filled the land.[ad] 21 Now all Moab had heard that the kings were attacking,[ae] so everyone old enough to fight was mustered and placed at the border.[af] 22 When they got up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites, who were some distance away, the water looked red like blood. 23 The Moabites[ag] said, “It’s blood! The kings must have fought one another![ah] The soldiers have struck one another down![ai] Now, Moab, seize the plunder!” 24 When they approached the Israelite camp, the Israelites rose up and struck down the Moabites, who then ran from them. The Israelites[aj] thoroughly defeated[ak] Moab. 25 They tore down the cities, and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered.[al] They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree.

Only Kir Hareseth was left intact,[am] but the soldiers armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle,[an] he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack[ao] the king of Edom, but they failed. 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,[ap] so they broke off the attack[aq] and returned to their homeland.

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4 Now a wife of one of the prophets[ar] appealed[as] to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord.[at] Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” 2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.” 3 He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers.[au] Get as many as you can.[av] 4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers;[aw] set aside each one when you have filled it.” 5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons,[ax] “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the prophet.[ay] He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

Elisha Gives Life to a Boy

8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent[az] woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal.[ba] So whenever he was passing through, he would stop in there for a meal.[bb] 9 She said to her husband, “Look, I’m sure[bc] that the man who regularly passes through here is a very special prophet.[bd] 10 Let’s make a small, private upper room[be] and furnish it with[bf] a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay there.”

11 One day Elisha[bg] came for a visit; he went[bh] into the upper room and rested.[bi] 12 He told his servant Gehazi, “Ask the Shunammite woman to come here.”[bj] So he did so and she came to him.[bk] 13 Elisha said to Gehazi,[bl] “Tell her, ‘Look, you have treated us with such great respect.[bm] What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I’m quite secure.”[bn] 14 So he asked Gehazi,[bo] “What can I do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” 15 Elisha told him, “Ask her to come here.”[bp] So he did so[bq] and she came and stood in the doorway.[br] 16 He said, “About this time next year[bs] you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my master! O prophet, do not lie to your servant!” 17 The woman did conceive, and at the specified time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

18 The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with the harvest workers.[bt] 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father[bu] told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 So he picked him up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap[bv] until noon and then died. 21 She went up and laid him down on the prophet’s[bw] bed. She shut the door behind her and left. 22 She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet quickly and then return.” 23 He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon[bx] or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.”[by] 24 She saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Lead on.[bz] Do not stop unless I say so.”[ca]

25 So she went to visit[cb] the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he[cc] saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman. 26 Now, run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you well? Are your husband and the boy well?’” She told Gehazi,[cd] “Everything’s fine.” 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.[ce] The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.” 28 She said, “Did I ask my master for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t mislead me?’” 29 Elisha[cf] told Gehazi, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take my staff,[cg] and go! Don’t stop to exchange greetings with anyone![ch] Place my staff on the child’s face.” 30 The mother of the child said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha[ci] got up and followed her back.

31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha[cj] he told him, “The child did not wake up.” 32 When Elisha arrived at the house, there was[ck] the child lying dead on his bed. 33 He went in by himself and closed the door.[cl] Then he prayed to the Lord. 34 He got up on the bed and spread his body out over[cm] the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s[cn] mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. As he bent down across him, the boy’s skin[co] grew warm. 35 Elisha[cp] went back and walked around in the house.[cq] Then he got up on the bed again[cr] and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 36 Elisha[cs] called to Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman.” So he did so[ct] and she came to him. He said to her, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down. Then she picked up her son and left.

Elisha Makes a Meal Edible

38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was a famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him[cu] and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire[cv] and boil some stew for the prophets.”[cw] 39 Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine.[cx] He picked some of its fruit,[cy] enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices[cz] into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful.[da] 40 The stew was poured out[db] for the men to eat. When they ate some of the stew, they cried out, “Death is in the pot, O prophet!” They could not eat it. 41 He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.”[dc] There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People

42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet[dd]—twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain.[de] Elisha[df] said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.” 43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?”[dg] He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord has said, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”[dh] 44 So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as in the Lord’s message.

Elisha Heals a Syrian General

5 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master,[di] for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease.[dj] 2 Raiding parties went out from Syria and took captive from the land of Israel a young girl, who became a servant to Naaman’s wife. 3 She told her mistress, “If only my master were in the presence of the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his skin disease.”

4 Naaman[dk] went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 The king of Syria said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman[dl] went, taking with him 10 talents[dm] of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold,[dn] and 10 suits of clothes. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read: “This is a letter of introduction for my servant Naaman,[do] whom I have sent to be cured of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease?[dp] Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!”[dq]

8 When Elisha the prophet[dr] heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent this message to the king, “Why did you tear your clothes? Send him[ds] to me so he may know there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood in the doorway of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored[dt] and you will be healed.” 11 Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease. 12 The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel![du] Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry. 13 His servants approached and said to him,[dv] “O master,[dw] if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task,[dx] you would have been willing to do it.[dy] It seems you should be happy that he simply said, ‘Wash and you will be healed.’[dz] 14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed.[ea] His skin became as smooth as a young child’s[eb] and he was healed.

15 He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman[ec] came and stood before him. He said, “For sure[ed] I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.” 16 But Elisha[ee] replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives (whom I serve),[ef] I will take nothing from you.” Naaman[eg] insisted that he take it, but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry,[eh] for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord.[ei] 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.”[ej] 19 Elisha[ek] said to him, “Go in peace.”

When he had gone a short distance,[el] 20 Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant, thought,[em] “Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him.[en] As certainly as the Lord lives, I will run after him and accept something from him.” 21 So Gehazi ran after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”[eo] 22 He answered, “Everything is fine.[ep] My master sent me with this message, ‘Look, two servants of the prophets just arrived from the Ephraimite hill country.[eq] Please give them a talent[er] of silver and two suits of clothes.’” 23 Naaman said, “Please accept two talents of silver.”[es] He insisted, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, along with two suits of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants and they carried them for Gehazi.[et] 24 When he arrived at the hill, he took them from the servants[eu] and put them in the house. Then he sent the men on their way.[ev]

25 When he came and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant hasn’t been anywhere.” 26 Elisha[ew] replied, “I was there in spirit when a man turned and got down from his chariot to meet you.[ex] This is not the proper time to accept silver or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, sheep, cattle, and male and female servants.[ey] 27 Therefore Naaman’s skin disease will afflict[ez] you and your descendants forever!” When Gehazi[fa] went out from his presence, his skin was as white as snow.[fb]

Elisha Makes an Ax Head Float

6 Some of the prophets[fc] said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you[fd] is too cramped[fe] for us. 2 Let’s go to the Jordan. Each of us will get a log from there, and we will build a meeting place for ourselves there.” He said, “Go.” 3 One of them said, “Please come along with your servants.” He replied, “All right, I’ll come.” 4 So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they started cutting down trees. 5 As one of them was felling a tree, the ax head[ff] dropped into the water. He shouted, “Oh no,[fg] my master! It was borrowed!” 6 The prophet[fh] asked, “Where did it drop in?” When he showed him the spot, Elisha[fi] cut off a branch, threw it in at that spot, and made the ax head float. 7 He said, “Lift it out.” So he reached out his hand and grabbed it.

Elisha Defeats an Army

8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade[fj] at such and such[fk] a place.” 9 But the prophet sent this message to the king of Israel, “Make sure you don’t pass through this place because Syria is invading there.” 10 So the king of Israel sent a message to the place the prophet had pointed out, warning it[fl] to be on its guard. This happened on several occasions.[fm] 11 This made the king of Syria upset.[fn] So he summoned his advisers[fo] and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.”[fp] 12 One of his advisers said, “No, my master, O king. The prophet Elisha who lives in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the things you say in your bedroom.” 13 The king[fq] ordered, “Go, find out where he is, so I can send some men to capture him.”[fr] The king was told, “He is in Dothan.” 14 So he sent horses and chariots there, along with a good-sized army.[fs] They arrived during the night and surrounded the city.

15 The prophet’s[ft] attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha,[fu] “Oh no, my master! What will we do?” 16 He replied, “Don’t be afraid, for our side outnumbers them.”[fv] 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that[fw] the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 As the army approached him,[fx] Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people[fy] with blindness.”[fz] The Lord[ga] struck them with blindness as Elisha requested.[gb] 19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the right road or city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you’re looking for.” He led them to Samaria.

20 When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open their eyes, so they can see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.[gc] 21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Should I strike them down,[gd] my master?”[ge] 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?[gf] Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23 So he threw a big banquet[gg] for them and they ate and drank. Then he sent them back[gh] to their master. After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel.

The Lord Saves Samaria

24 Later King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled his entire army and attacked[gi] and besieged Samaria. 25 Samaria’s food supply ran out.[gj] They laid siege to it so long that[gk] a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver[gl] and a quarter of a kab[gm] of dove’s droppings[gn] for five shekels of silver.[go]

26 While the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, a woman shouted to him, “Help us, my master, O king!” 27 He replied, “No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.”[gp] 28 Then the king asked her, “What’s your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son; we’ll eat him today and then eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him. Then I said to her the next day, ‘Hand over your son and we’ll eat him.’ But she hid her son!” 30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.[gq] 31 Then he said, “May God judge me severely[gr] if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head by the end of the day!”[gs]

32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders.[gt] The king[gu] sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived,[gv] Elisha[gw] said to the leaders,[gx] “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?[gy] Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.”[gz] 33 He was still talking to them when[ha] the messenger approached[hb] and said, “Look, the Lord is responsible for this disaster![hc] Why should I continue to wait for the Lord to help?” 7 1 Elisha replied, “Listen to the Lord’s message. This is what the Lord has said, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah[hd] of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” 2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man[he] responded to the prophet,[hf] “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[hg] Elisha[hh] said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[hi]

3 Now four men with a skin disease[hj] were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?[hk] 4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation,[hl] and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect[hm] to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,[hn] we’ll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway.”[ho] 5 So they started toward[hp] the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. 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 Egyptians to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.[hq] They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.[hr] Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it[hs] and went and hid what they had taken. 9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone.[ht] If we wait until dawn,[hu] we’ll be punished.[hv] So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers[hw] of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice.[hx] But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”[hy] 11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.[hz]

12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,[ia] “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we’re all going to die!)[ib] Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”[ic] 14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army.[id] He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”[ie] 15 So they tracked them[if] as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.[ig] The scouts[ih] went back and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah[ii] of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as in the Lord’s message.

17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man[ij] at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate.[ik] This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.[il] 18 The prophet had told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 But the officer had replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[im] Elisha[in] had said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[io] 20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.

Elisha Again Helps the Shunammite Woman

8 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,[ip] for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman did as the prophet said.[iq] She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field.[ir] 4 Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet’s[is] servant, and said, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 While Gehazi[it] was telling the king how Elisha[iu] 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.[iv] Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!” 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she gave him the details.[iw] The king assigned a eunuch to take care of her request and ordered him,[ix] “Give her back everything she owns, as well as the amount of crops her field produced from the day she left the land until now.”

Elisha Meets with Hazael

7 Elisha traveled to Damascus while King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick. The king[iy] was told, “The prophet[iz] has come here.” 8 So the king told Hazael, “Take a gift[ja] and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the Lord. Ask him,[jb] ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 9 So Hazael went to visit Elisha.[jc] He took along a gift,[jd] as well as[je] forty camel-loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, “Your son,[jf] King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question,[jg] ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’[jh] but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.” 11 Elisha[ji] just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable.[jj] Then the prophet started crying. 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.” 13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?”[jk] Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.”[jl] 14 He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad[jm] asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael[jn] replied, “He told me you would surely recover.” 15 The next day Hazael[jo] took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s[jp] face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 3:2 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  2. 2 Kings 3:3 tn Heb “held tight,” or “clung to.”
  3. 2 Kings 3:3 tc The Hebrew text has the singular, “it.” Some ancient witnesses read the plural, which seems preferable since the antecedent (“sins”) is plural. Another option is to emend the plural “sins” to a singular. One ancient Greek witness has the singular “sin.”
  4. 2 Kings 3:4 tn For a discussion of the meaning of term נֹקֵד (noqed) as “sheep breeder,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 43.
  5. 2 Kings 3:4 tn The vav + perfect here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause. See IBHS 533-34 §32.2.3e.
  6. 2 Kings 3:7 tn Heb “went and sent.”
  7. 2 Kings 3:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoshaphat) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  8. 2 Kings 3:7 tn Heb “I will go up—like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”
  9. 2 Kings 3:8 tn Heb “Where is the road we will go up?”
  10. 2 Kings 3:8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  11. 2 Kings 3:9 tn Heb “the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom.”
  12. 2 Kings 3:10 tn Or “ah.”
  13. 2 Kings 3:11 tn Heb “that we might inquire of the Lord through him?”
  14. 2 Kings 3:11 tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.
  15. 2 Kings 3:12 tn Heb “the Lord’s message is with him.”
  16. 2 Kings 3:13 tn Or “What do we have in common?” The text reads literally, “What to me and to you?”
  17. 2 Kings 3:14 tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”
  18. 2 Kings 3:14 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
  19. 2 Kings 3:14 tn Heb “if I did not lift up the face of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.”
  20. 2 Kings 3:14 tn Heb “I would not look at you or see you.”
  21. 2 Kings 3:15 tn The term used refers to one who plays a stringed instrument, perhaps a harp.
  22. 2 Kings 3:15 tn Heb “the hand of the Lord came on him.” This may refer to what typically happened, “[for] when a musician played, the hand of the Lord would come upon him.”
  23. 2 Kings 3:16 tn Heb “making this valley cisterns, cisterns.” The Hebrew noun גֵּב (gev) means “cistern” in Jer 14:3 (cf. Jer 39:10). The repetition of the noun is for emphasis. See GKC 396 §123.e. The verb (“making”) is an infinitive absolute, which has to be interpreted in light of the context. The translation above takes it in an imperatival sense. The command need not be understood as literal, but as hyperbolic. Telling them to build cisterns is a dramatic way of leading into the announcement that he would miraculously provide water in the desert. Some prefer to translate the infinitive as an imperfect with the Lord as the understood subject, “I will turn this valley [into] many pools.”
  24. 2 Kings 3:17 tn Heb “see.”
  25. 2 Kings 3:18 tn Heb “and this is easy in the eyes of the Lord.”
  26. 2 Kings 3:19 tn Heb “choice” or “select.”
  27. 2 Kings 3:19 tn Elisha places the object first and uses an imperfect verb form. The stylistic shift may signal that he is now instructing them what to do, rather than merely predicting what would happen.
  28. 2 Kings 3:19 tn Heb “good.”
  29. 2 Kings 3:19 tn Heb “and ruin every good portion with stones.”
  30. 2 Kings 3:20 tn Heb “and in the morning, when the offering is offered up, look, water was coming from the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.”
  31. 2 Kings 3:21 tn Heb “had come up to fight them.”
  32. 2 Kings 3:21 tn Heb “and they mustered all who tied on a belt and upwards, and they stood at the border.”
  33. 2 Kings 3:23 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Moabites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  34. 2 Kings 3:23 tn The translation assumes the verb is II חָרַב (kharav) meaning “to fight one another” in the Nifal (HALOT 349 s.v. II חרב and BDB 352 s.v. חָרְבָה), a denominative verb based on the noun חֶרֶב (kherev, “sword”). The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb form to emphasize the modality (here indicative mode) of the main verb. (For another example of the Hophal infinitive with a Niphal finite verb, see Lev 19:20. Cf. also IBHS 582 §35.2.1c.) It might also be I חָרַב (kharav) meaning “to be desolate.” But because that describes a result, it makes less sense to precede the verb “then they struck one another down.
  35. 2 Kings 3:23 tn Heb “Each struck down his counterpart.” The presumption is that the armies are wiped out, not just that the kings killed each other.
  36. 2 Kings 3:24 tn Heb “they.”
  37. 2 Kings 3:24 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) suggests, “and they went, striking down,” but the marginal reading (Qere) is “they struck down, striking down.” For a discussion of the textual problem, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 46.
  38. 2 Kings 3:25 tn Heb “and [on] every good portion they were throwing each man his stone and they filled it.” The vav + perfect (“and they filled”) here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause (where a customary imperfect is used, “they were throwing”). See the note at 3:4.
  39. 2 Kings 3:25 tn Heb “until he had allowed its stones to remain in Kir Hareseth.”
  40. 2 Kings 3:26 tn Heb “and the king of Moab saw that the battle was too strong for him.”
  41. 2 Kings 3:26 tn Heb “he took with him seven hundred men, who drew the sword, to break through against.”
  42. 2 Kings 3:27 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.
  43. 2 Kings 3:27 tn Heb “they departed from him.”
  44. 2 Kings 4:1 tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”
  45. 2 Kings 4:1 tn Or “cried out.”
  46. 2 Kings 4:1 tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.
  47. 2 Kings 4:3 tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”
  48. 2 Kings 4:3 tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”
  49. 2 Kings 4:4 tn Heb “all these vessels.”
  50. 2 Kings 4:6 tn Heb “to her son.”
  51. 2 Kings 4:7 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).
  52. 2 Kings 4:8 tn Heb “great,” perhaps “wealthy.”
  53. 2 Kings 4:8 tn Or “she urged him to eat some food.”
  54. 2 Kings 4:8 tn Or “he would turn aside there to eat some food.”
  55. 2 Kings 4:9 tn Heb “I know.”
  56. 2 Kings 4:9 tn Heb “holy man of God.”
  57. 2 Kings 4:10 tn Heb “a small upper room of a wall.” According to HALOT 832 s.v. עֲלִיָּה, this refers to “a fully walled upper room.”
  58. 2 Kings 4:10 tn Heb “and let’s put there for him.”
  59. 2 Kings 4:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  60. 2 Kings 4:11 tn Heb “turned aside.”
  61. 2 Kings 4:11 tn Or “slept there.”
  62. 2 Kings 4:12 tn Heb “Call for this Shunammite woman.”
  63. 2 Kings 4:12 tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood before him.”
  64. 2 Kings 4:13 tn Heb “he said to him.”
  65. 2 Kings 4:13 tn Heb “you have turned trembling to us with all this trembling.” The exaggerated language is probably idiomatic. The point seems to be that she has taken great pains or gone out of her way to be kind to them. Her concern was a sign of her respect for the prophetic office.
  66. 2 Kings 4:13 tn Heb “Among my people I am living.” This answer suggests that she has security within the context of her family.
  67. 2 Kings 4:14 tn Heb “and he said.”
  68. 2 Kings 4:15 tn Heb “Call for her.”
  69. 2 Kings 4:15 tn Heb “and he called her.”
  70. 2 Kings 4:15 tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood in the door.”
  71. 2 Kings 4:16 tn Heb “at this appointed time, at the time [when it is] reviving.” For a discussion of the second phrase see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.
  72. 2 Kings 4:18 tn Heb “to his father, to the harvesters.”
  73. 2 Kings 4:19 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the boy’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  74. 2 Kings 4:20 tn Heb “knees.”
  75. 2 Kings 4:21 tn Heb “man of God’s.”
  76. 2 Kings 4:23 sn The new moon was a time of sacrifice and special feasts (Num 28:14; 1 Sam 20:5). Apparently it was a convenient time to visit a prophet. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.
  77. 2 Kings 4:23 tn Heb “peace.”
  78. 2 Kings 4:24 tn Heb “lead [the donkey on] and go.”
  79. 2 Kings 4:24 tn Heb “do not restrain for me the riding unless I say to you.”
  80. 2 Kings 4:25 tn Heb “went and came.”
  81. 2 Kings 4:25 tn Heb “the man of God.” The phrase has been replaced by the relative pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  82. 2 Kings 4:26 tn Heb “she said.” The narrator streamlines the story at this point, omitting any reference to Gehazi running to meet her and asking her the questions.
  83. 2 Kings 4:27 tn Heb “her soul [i.e., ‘disposition’] is bitter.”
  84. 2 Kings 4:29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  85. 2 Kings 4:29 tn Heb “take my staff in your hand.”
  86. 2 Kings 4:29 tn Heb “If you meet a man, do not greet him with a blessing; if a man greets you with a blessing, do not answer.”
  87. 2 Kings 4:30 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent must be Elisha here, since the following verse makes it clear that Gehazi had gone on ahead of them.
  88. 2 Kings 4:31 tn Heb “to meet him.”
  89. 2 Kings 4:32 tn Heb “look.”
  90. 2 Kings 4:33 tn Heb “and closed the door behind the two of them.”
  91. 2 Kings 4:34 tn Heb “he went up and lay down over.”
  92. 2 Kings 4:34 tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).
  93. 2 Kings 4:34 tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”
  94. 2 Kings 4:35 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  95. 2 Kings 4:35 tn Heb “and he returned and went into the house, once here and once there.”
  96. 2 Kings 4:35 tn Heb “and he went up.”
  97. 2 Kings 4:36 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  98. 2 Kings 4:36 tn Heb “and he called for her.”
  99. 2 Kings 4:38 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.”
  100. 2 Kings 4:38 tn The words “the fire” are added for clarification.
  101. 2 Kings 4:38 tn Heb “sons of the prophets.”
  102. 2 Kings 4:39 tn Heb “a vine of the field.”
  103. 2 Kings 4:39 tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”
  104. 2 Kings 4:39 tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”
  105. 2 Kings 4:39 tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yadaʿu) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
  106. 2 Kings 4:40 tn Heb “and they poured out [the stew].” The plural subject is probably indefinite.
  107. 2 Kings 4:41 tn Or “and let them eat.”
  108. 2 Kings 4:42 tn Heb “man of God.”
  109. 2 Kings 4:42 tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
  110. 2 Kings 4:42 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  111. 2 Kings 4:43 tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
  112. 2 Kings 4:43 tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.
  113. 2 Kings 5:1 tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”
  114. 2 Kings 5:1 tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (metsoraʿ), traditionally translated “leprous,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 63. Naaman probably had a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.
  115. 2 Kings 5:4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  116. 2 Kings 5:5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  117. 2 Kings 5:5 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 750 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).
  118. 2 Kings 5:5 tn Heb “six thousand gold […].” The unit of measure is not given in the Hebrew text. A number of English versions supply “pieces” (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, TEV) or “shekels” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV).
  119. 2 Kings 5:6 tn Heb “and now when this letter comes to you, look, I have sent to you Naaman my servant.”
  120. 2 Kings 5:7 tn Heb “Am I God, killing and restoring life, that this one sends to me to cure a man from his skin disease?” In the Hebrew text this is one lengthy rhetorical question, which has been divided up in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  121. 2 Kings 5:7 tn Heb “Indeed, know and see that he is seeking an occasion with respect to me.”
  122. 2 Kings 5:8 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 15, 20).
  123. 2 Kings 5:8 tn Heb “Let him come.”
  124. 2 Kings 5:10 tn Heb “will return to you.”
  125. 2 Kings 5:12 tn Heb “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel?” The rhetorical question expects an emphatic “yes” as an answer.
  126. 2 Kings 5:13 tn Heb “They spoke to him. They said.”
  127. 2 Kings 5:13 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.
  128. 2 Kings 5:13 tn Heb “a great thing.”
  129. 2 Kings 5:13 tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”
  130. 2 Kings 5:13 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”).
  131. 2 Kings 5:14 tn Heb “according to the word of the man of God.”
  132. 2 Kings 5:14 tn Heb “and his skin was restored, like the skin of a small child.”
  133. 2 Kings 5:15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  134. 2 Kings 5:15 tn Heb “look.”
  135. 2 Kings 5:16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  136. 2 Kings 5:16 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
  137. 2 Kings 5:16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  138. 2 Kings 5:17 tn Heb “and [if] not, may there be given to your servant a load [for] a pair of mules, earth.”
  139. 2 Kings 5:17 tn Heb “for your servant will not again make a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, only to the Lord.”
  140. 2 Kings 5:18 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 Lord forgive your servant for this thing.”sn Rimmon was the Syrian storm god. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.
  141. 2 Kings 5:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  142. 2 Kings 5:19 tn Heb “and he went from him a distance of land.” The precise meaning of כִּבְרַה (kivrah) “distance,” is uncertain. See BDB 460 s.v. כִּבְרַה, and HALOT 459-60 s.v. II *כְּבָרַה, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.
  143. 2 Kings 5:20 tn Heb “said” (i.e., to himself).
  144. 2 Kings 5:20 tn Heb “Look, my master spared this Syrian Naaman by not taking from his hand what he brought.”
  145. 2 Kings 5:21 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
  146. 2 Kings 5:22 tn Heb “peace.”
  147. 2 Kings 5:22 tn Heb “Look now, here, two servants came to me from the Ephraimite hill country, from the sons of the prophets.”
  148. 2 Kings 5:22 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 75 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).
  149. 2 Kings 5:23 tn Heb “Be resolved and accept two talents.”
  150. 2 Kings 5:23 tn Heb “before him.”
  151. 2 Kings 5:24 tn Heb “from their hand.”
  152. 2 Kings 5:24 tn Heb “and he sent the men away and they went.”
  153. 2 Kings 5:26 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  154. 2 Kings 5:26 tn Heb “Did not my heart go as a man turned from his chariot to meet you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes that he was indeed present in “heart” (or “spirit”) and was very much aware of what Gehazi had done. In the MT the interrogative particle has been accidentally omitted before the negative particle.
  155. 2 Kings 5:26 tn In the MT the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Is this the time…?” It expects an emphatic negative response.
  156. 2 Kings 5:27 tn Heb “cling to.”
  157. 2 Kings 5:27 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  158. 2 Kings 5:27 tn Traditionally, “he went from before him, leprous like snow.” But see the note at 5:1, as well as M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 66.
  159. 2 Kings 6:1 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
  160. 2 Kings 6:1 tn Heb “sit before you.”
  161. 2 Kings 6:1 tn Heb “narrow, tight.”
  162. 2 Kings 6:5 tn Heb “iron.”
  163. 2 Kings 6:5 tn Or “ah.”
  164. 2 Kings 6:6 tn Heb “man of God” (also in v. 9).
  165. 2 Kings 6:6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  166. 2 Kings 6:8 tc The verb form used here is difficult to analyze. On the basis of the form נְחִתִּים (nekhittim) in v. 9 from the root נָחַת (nakhat), it is probably best to emend the verb to תִּנְחְתוּ (tinkhetu; a Qal imperfect form from the same root). The verb נָחַת in at least two other instances carries the nuance “go down, descend” in a military context. For a defense of this view, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 72.
  167. 2 Kings 6:8 sn The advisers would have mentioned a specific location, but the details are not significant to the narrator’s purpose, so he simply paraphrases here.
  168. 2 Kings 6:10 tn The vav + perfect here indicates action contemporary with the preceding main verb (“sent”). See IBHS 533-34 §32.2.3e.
  169. 2 Kings 6:10 tn Heb “and the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God spoke to him, and he warned it and he guarded himself there, not once and not twice.”
  170. 2 Kings 6:11 tn Heb “and the heart of the king of Syria was stirred up over this thing.”
  171. 2 Kings 6:11 tn Heb “servants.”
  172. 2 Kings 6:11 tn Heb “Will you not tell me who among us [is] for the king of Israel?” The sarcastic rhetorical question expresses the king’s suspicion.
  173. 2 Kings 6:13 tn Heb “he” (also a second time in this verse); the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  174. 2 Kings 6:13 tn Heb “Go and see where he [is] so I can send and take him.”
  175. 2 Kings 6:14 tn Heb “heavy force.”
  176. 2 Kings 6:15 tn Heb “man of God’s.”
  177. 2 Kings 6:15 tn Heb “his young servant said to him.”
  178. 2 Kings 6:16 tn Heb “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
  179. 2 Kings 6:17 tn Heb “and he saw, and look.”
  180. 2 Kings 6:18 tn Heb “and they came down to him.”
  181. 2 Kings 6:18 tn Or “this nation,” perhaps emphasizing the strength of the Syrian army.
  182. 2 Kings 6:18 tn On the basis of the Akkadian etymology of the word, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 74) translate “blinding light.” HALOT 761 s.v. סַנְוֵרִים suggests the glosses “dazzling, deception.”
  183. 2 Kings 6:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  184. 2 Kings 6:18 tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha.”
  185. 2 Kings 6:20 tn Heb “and they saw, and look, [they were] in the middle of Samaria.”
  186. 2 Kings 6:21 tn Heb “Should I strike them down? I will strike them down.” In the Hebrew text the first person imperfect form is repeated; the first form has the interrogative he prefixed to it; the second does not. It is likely that the second form should be omitted as dittographic or that the first should be emended to an infinitive absolute.
  187. 2 Kings 6:21 tn Heb “my father.” The king addresses the prophet in this way to indicate his respect. See 2 Kgs 2:12.
  188. 2 Kings 6:22 tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”
  189. 2 Kings 6:23 tn Or “held a great feast.”
  190. 2 Kings 6:23 tn Heb “they went back.”
  191. 2 Kings 6:24 tn Heb “went up.”
  192. 2 Kings 6:25 tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”
  193. 2 Kings 6:25 tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”
  194. 2 Kings 6:25 tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
  195. 2 Kings 6:25 sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately 2 quarts (2 liters).
  196. 2 Kings 6:25 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) reads “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 79) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.
  197. 2 Kings 6:25 tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
  198. 2 Kings 6:27 tn Heb “From where can I help you, from the threshing floor or the winepress?” The rhetorical question expresses the king’s frustration. He has no grain or wine to give to the masses.
  199. 2 Kings 6:30 tn Heb “the people saw, and look, [there was] sackcloth against his skin underneath.”
  200. 2 Kings 6:31 tn Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”
  201. 2 Kings 6:31 tn Heb “if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
  202. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “and the elders were sitting with him.”
  203. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  204. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “sent a man from before him, before the messenger came to him.”
  205. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  206. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “elders.”
  207. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “Do you see that this son of an assassin has sent to remove my head?”
  208. 2 Kings 6:32 tn Heb “Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
  209. 2 Kings 6:33 tn The Hebrew text also has “look” here.
  210. 2 Kings 6:33 tn Heb “came down to him.”
  211. 2 Kings 6:33 tn Heb “Look, this is a disaster from the Lord.”
  212. 2 Kings 7:1 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  213. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”
  214. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “man of God.”
  215. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.
  216. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  217. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
  218. 2 Kings 7:3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.
  219. 2 Kings 7:3 tn Heb “until we die.”
  220. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
  221. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “fall.”
  222. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
  223. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
  224. 2 Kings 7:5 tn Heb “they arose to go to.”
  225. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
  226. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
  227. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
  228. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
  229. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
  230. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
  231. 2 Kings 7:10 tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.
  232. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”
  233. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”
  234. 2 Kings 7:11 tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] within the house of the king.”
  235. 2 Kings 7:12 tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).
  236. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”
  237. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
  238. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”
  239. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “Go and see.”
  240. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “went after.”
  241. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”
  242. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Or “messengers.”
  243. 2 Kings 7:16 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  244. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
  245. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
  246. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
  247. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.
  248. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  249. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.
  250. 2 Kings 8:1 tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”
  251. 2 Kings 8:2 tn Heb “and the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God.”
  252. 2 Kings 8:3 tn Heb “and went out to cry out to the king for her house and her field.”
  253. 2 Kings 8:4 tn Heb “man of God’s.”
  254. 2 Kings 8:5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  255. 2 Kings 8:5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  256. 2 Kings 8:5 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.
  257. 2 Kings 8:6 tn Heb “and the king asked the woman and she told him.”
  258. 2 Kings 8:6 tn Heb “and he assigned to her an official, saying.”
  259. 2 Kings 8:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  260. 2 Kings 8:7 tn Heb “man of God” (also a second time in this verse and in v. 11).
  261. 2 Kings 8:8 tn The Hebrew text also has “in your hand.”
  262. 2 Kings 8:8 tn Heb “Inquire of the Lord through him, saying.”
  263. 2 Kings 8:9 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  264. 2 Kings 8:9 tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”
  265. 2 Kings 8:9 tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel-loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel-loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”
  266. 2 Kings 8:9 sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.
  267. 2 Kings 8:9 tn Heb “saying.”
  268. 2 Kings 8:10 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “Go, say, ‘Surely you will not (לֹא, loʾ) live.’” In this case the vav beginning the next clause could be translated “for” or “because.” The reading tradition (Qere) has, “Go, say to him (לוֹ, lo), ‘You will surely recover.’” In this case the vav (ו) beginning the next clause would be translated “although” or “but.” The Qere has the support of some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, and is consistent with v. 14, where Hazael tells the king, “You will surely recover.” It also fits the immediate context. The sentence “you will live,” to be told to Ben Hadad and meaning to recover from the sickness contrasts telling Hazael that Ben Hadad will die. The missing component is the means of Ban Hadad’s death. So Elisha looks at Hazael until he is embarrassed, because as a prophet he knows that Hazael will kill Ben Hadad (not the sickness). It is possible that a scribe has changed לוֹ, “to him,” to לֹא, “not,” because he felt that Elisha would not lie to the king. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 90. But it is possible that Hazael, once he found out he would become the next king, decided to lie to the king to facilitate his assassination plot by making the king feel secure.
  269. 2 Kings 8:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  270. 2 Kings 8:11 tn Heb “and he made his face stand [i.e., be motionless] and set [his face?] until embarrassment.”
  271. 2 Kings 8:13 tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.
  272. 2 Kings 8:13 tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”
  273. 2 Kings 8:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  274. 2 Kings 8:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  275. 2 Kings 8:15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  276. 2 Kings 8:15 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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