2 Raja-raja 16:3-4

16:3 He followed in the footsteps of ¹  the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, ²  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ³  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 16:4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Raja-raja 16:10-12

16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. ⁴  King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. ⁵  16:11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. ⁶  Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. ⁷  16:12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and ⁸  saw the altar, he approached it ⁹  and offered a sacrifice on it. ¹⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 16:2

16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ¹¹  He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. ¹² 

2 Raja-raja 1:2-4

1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ¹³  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ¹⁴  “Go, ask ¹⁵  Baal Zebub, ¹⁶  the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

1:3 But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. ¹⁷  1:4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

2 Raja-raja 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ¹⁸ 

[16:3]  ¹ tn Heb “he walked in the way of.”

[16:3]  ² sn This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

[16:3]  ³ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

[16:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “in Damascus.”

[16:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”

[16:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”

[16:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”

[16:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the king.”

[16:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “the altar.”

[16:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “ascended it.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God, like David his father.”

[1:2]  ¹³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”

[1:2]  ¹⁶ sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.

[1:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question.

[1:1]  ¹⁸ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.