2 Raja-raja 13:3-7

13:3 The Lord was furious with ¹  Israel and handed them over to ²  King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael’s son Ben Hadad for many years. ³ 

13:4 Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy ⁴  and the Lord responded favorably, ⁵  for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria. ⁶  13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer ⁷  for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. ⁸  The Israelites once more lived in security. ⁹  13:6 But they did not repudiate ¹⁰  the sinful ways of the family ¹¹  of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. ¹²  There was even an Asherah pole ¹³  standing in Samaria. 13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ¹⁴  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ¹⁵  and trampled on them like dust. ¹⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 13:2

13:2 He did evil in the sight of ¹⁷  the Lord. He continued in ¹⁸  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins. ¹⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 1:5-9

1:5 When the messengers returned to the king, ²⁰  he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 1:6 They replied, ²¹  “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. ²²  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’” 1:7 The king ²³  asked them, “Describe the appearance ²⁴  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.” 1:8 They replied, ²⁵  “He was a hairy man ²⁶  and had a leather belt ²⁷  tied around his waist.” The king ²⁸  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

1:9 The king ²⁹  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ³⁰  to retrieve Elijah. ³¹  The captain ³²  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ³³  He told him, “Prophet, ³⁴  the king says, ‘Come down!’”

Mazmur 106:41-42

106:41 He handed them over to ³⁵  the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

106:42 Their enemies oppressed them;

they were subject to their authority. ³⁶ 

Amsal 12:10

12:10 A righteous person cares for ³⁷  the life of his animal,

but even the most compassionate acts ³⁸  of the wicked are cruel.

Yesaya 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ³⁹ 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ⁴⁰ 

Zakharia 1:15

1:15 But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted. ⁴¹  I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.

[13:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against.”

[13:3]  ² tn Heb “he gave them into the hand of.”

[13:3]  ³ tn Heb “all the days.”

[13:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the Lord heard.”

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “for he saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Syria oppressed them.”

[13:5]  ⁷ sn The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 143.

[13:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”

[13:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”

[13:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they did not turn away from.”

[13:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[13:6]  ¹² tc Heb “in it he walked.” The singular verb (הָלַךְ, halakh) is probably due to an error of haplography and should be emended to the plural (הָלְכּוּ, halÿku). Note that a vav immediately follows (on the form וְגַם, vÿgam).

[13:6]  ¹³ tn Or “an image of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “the Asherah”; NCV “the Asherah idol.”

[13:6]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[13:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.

[13:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

[13:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[13:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “walked after.”

[13:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:5]  sn The narrative is elliptical and telescoped here. The account of Elijah encountering the messengers and delivering the Lord’s message is omitted; we only here of it as the messengers report what happened to the king.

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:6]  ²² 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).

[1:7]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “What was the manner…?”

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “an owner of hair.” This idiomatic expression indicates that Elijah was very hairy. For other examples where the idiom “owner of” is used to describe a characteristic of someone, see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל. For example, an “owner of dreams” is one who frequently has dreams (Gen 37:19) and an “owner of anger” is a hot-tempered individual (Prov 22:24).

[1:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).

[1:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ³² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³³ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[106:41]  ³⁵ tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

[106:42]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they were subdued under their hand.”

[12:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “knows”; NLT “concerned for the welfare of.” The righteous take care of animals, not just people.

[12:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “but the mercies.” The additional words appear in the translation for the sake of clarification. The line can be interpreted in two ways: (1) when the wicked exhibit a kind act, they do it in a cruel way, or (2) even the kindest of their acts is cruel by all assessments, e.g., stuffing animals with food to fatten them for market – their “kindness” is driven by ulterior motives (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 129).

[47:6]  ³⁹ tn Or “compassion.”

[47:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

[1:15]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the nations that are at ease” (so ASV, NRSV). The Hebrew word in question is שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan) which has the idea of a careless, even arrogant attitude (see BDB 983 s.v. שַׁאֲנָן); cf. NAB “the complacent nations.” Here it suggests that the nations take for granted that God will never punish them just because he hasn't already done so. Thus they presume on the grace and patience of the Lord. The translation attempts to bring out this nuance rather than the more neutral renderings of TEV “nations that enjoy quiet and peace” or NLT “enjoy peace and security.”