2 Raja-raja 1:6

1:6 They replied, ¹  “A man came up to meet us. He told us, “Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. ²  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’”

2 Raja-raja 1:16

1:16 Elijah ³  said to the king, ⁴  “This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! ⁵  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 5:8

5:8 When Elisha the prophet ⁷  heard that the king had torn his clothes, he sent this message to the king, “Why did you tear your clothes? Send him ⁸  to me so he may know there is a prophet in Israel.”

2 Raja-raja 5:15

5:15 He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman ⁹  came and stood before him. He said, “For sure ¹⁰  I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”

2 Raja-raja 5:1

Elisha Heals a Syrian General

5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, ¹¹  for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. ¹² 

1 Samuel 17:46

17:46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God

1 Samuel 17:1

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ¹³ The Philistines gathered their troops ¹⁴  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

Kisah Para Rasul 18:1

Paul at Corinth

18:1 After this ¹⁵  Paul ¹⁶  departed from ¹⁷  Athens ¹⁸  and went to Corinth. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 76:1

Psalm 76 ²⁰ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song.

76:1 God has revealed himself in Judah; ²¹ 

in Israel his reputation ²²  is great.

[1:6]  ¹ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are sending to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question. In v. 3 the messengers are addressed (in the phrase “you are on your way” the second person plural pronoun is used in Hebrew), but here the king is addressed (in the phrase “you are sending” the second person singular pronoun is used).

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is there no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”

[1:16]  ⁶ sn For the third time in this chapter we read the Lord’s sarcastic question to king and the accompanying announcement of judgment. The repetition emphasizes one of the chapter’s main themes. Israel’s leaders should seek guidance from their own God, not a pagan deity, for Israel’s sovereign God is the one who controls life and death.

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 15, 20).

[5:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “Let him come.”

[5:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “look.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”

[5:1]  ¹² tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (mÿtsora’), 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.

[17:1]  ¹³ tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “camps.”

[18:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “After these things.”

[18:1]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Paul left.”

[18:1]  ¹⁸ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[18:1]  ¹⁹ sn Corinth was the capital city of the senatorial province of Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul. It was located 55 mi (88 km) west of Athens. Corinth was a major rival to Athens and was the largest city in Greece at the time.

[18:1]  map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[76:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 76. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior who destroys Israel’s enemies.

[76:1]  ²¹ tn Or “God is known in Judah.”

[76:1]  ²² tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.