2 Raja-raja 2:9

2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you, ¹  before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.” ² 

2 Raja-raja 3:4

3:4 Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder. ³  He would send as tribute ⁴  to the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.

2 Raja-raja 3:10

3:10 The king of Israel said, “Oh no! ⁵  Certainly the Lord has summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to the king of Moab!”

2 Raja-raja 4:22-23

4:22 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.” 4:23 He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon ⁶  or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.” ⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 5:18

5:18 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.” ⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 5:20

5:20 Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant, thought, ⁹  “Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him. ¹⁰  As certainly as the Lord lives, I will run after him and accept something from him.”

2 Raja-raja 5:23

5:23 Naaman said, “Please accept two talents of silver. ¹¹  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. ¹² 

2 Raja-raja 6:8

Elisha Defeats an Army

6:8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade ¹³  at such and such ¹⁴  a place.”

2 Raja-raja 6:15

6:15 The prophet’s ¹⁵  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, ¹⁶  “Oh no, my master! What will we do?”

2 Raja-raja 6:21

6:21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Should I strike them down, ¹⁷  my master?” ¹⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 6:31

6:31 Then he said, “May God judge me severely ¹⁹  if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head by the end of the day!” ²⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 9:7-8

9:7 You will destroy the family of your master Ahab. ²¹  I will get revenge against Jezebel for the shed blood of my servants the prophets and for the shed blood of all the Lord’s servants. ²²  9:8 Ahab’s entire family will die. I ²³  will cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. ²⁴ 

2 Raja-raja 10:4

10:4 They were absolutely terrified ²⁵  and said, “Look, two kings could not stop him! ²⁶  How can we?” ²⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 10:24

10:24 They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives!” ²⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 11:5-9

11:5 He ordered them, “This is what you must do. One third of the unit that is on duty during the Sabbath will guard the royal palace. 11:6 Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation ²⁹  Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. ³⁰  You will take turns guarding the palace. ³¹  11:7 The two units who are off duty on the Sabbath will guard the Lord’s temple and protect the king. ³²  11:8 You must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever approaches your ranks must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes.” ³³ 

11:9 The officers of the units of hundreds did just as ³⁴  Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath, and reported ³⁵  to Jehoiada the priest.

2 Raja-raja 12:5

12:5 The priests should receive the silver they need from the treasurers and repair any damage to the temple they discover.” ³⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 12:7

12:7 So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest along with the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, take no more silver from your treasurers unless you intend to use it to repair the damage.” ³⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 13:19

13:19 The prophet ³⁸  got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! ³⁹  But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.”

2 Raja-raja 14:6

14:6 But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, ⁴⁰  “Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do, ⁴¹  and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do. ⁴²  A man must be put to death only for his own sin.” ⁴³ 

2 Raja-raja 16:15

16:15 King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar ⁴⁴  offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.” ⁴⁵ 

2 Raja-raja 17:3

17:3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria threatened ⁴⁶  him; Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute.

2 Raja-raja 17:28

17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ⁴⁷  He taught them how to worship ⁴⁸  the Lord.

2 Raja-raja 17:35-37

17:35 The Lord made an agreement ⁴⁹  with them ⁵⁰  and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; ⁵¹  bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 17:37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods.

2 Raja-raja 17:39

17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

2 Raja-raja 18:14

18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. ⁵²  If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” ⁵³  So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents ⁵⁴  of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2 Raja-raja 18:22

18:22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’

2 Raja-raja 18:27

18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ⁵⁵  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.” ⁵⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 19:6

19:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ⁵⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 19:10

19:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over ⁵⁸  to the king of Assyria.”

2 Raja-raja 20:9

20:9 Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said. Do you want the shadow to move ahead ten steps or to go back ten steps?” ⁵⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 21:19

Amon’s Reign over Judah

21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ⁶⁰  His mother ⁶¹  was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.

2 Raja-raja 22:5

22:5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen ⁶²  assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it, ⁶³ 

2 Raja-raja 22:12

22:12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant,

2 Raja-raja 22:18

22:18 Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard:

2 Raja-raja 24:1

24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, ⁶⁴  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. ⁶⁵  Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. ⁶⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 24:3

24:3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed. ⁶⁷ 

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”

[2:9]  ² tn Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”

[3:4]  ³ tn For a discussion of the meaning of term (נֹקֵד, noqed), see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 43.

[3:4]  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.

[3:10]  ⁵ tn Or “ah.”

[4:23]  ⁶ 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.

[4:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “peace.”

[5:18]  ⁸ 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.”

[5:18]  sn Rimmon was the Syrian storm god. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 65.

[5:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “said” (i.e., to himself).

[5:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look, my master spared this Syrian Naaman by not taking from his hand what he brought.”

[5:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Be resolved and accept two talents.”

[5:23]  ¹² tn Heb “before him.”

[6:8]  ¹³ tc The verb form used here is difficult to analyze. On the basis of the form נְחִתִּים (nÿkhitim) in v. 9 from the root נָחַת (nakhat), it is probably best to emend the verb to תִּנְחְתוּ (tinkhÿtu; 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.

[6:8]  ¹⁴ 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.

[6:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “man of God’s.”

[6:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his young servant said to him.”

[6:21]  ¹⁷ 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.

[6:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my father.” The king addresses the prophet in this way to indicate his respect. See 2 Kgs 2:12.

[6:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”

[6:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today.”

[9:7]  ²¹ tn Or “strike down the house of Ahab your master.”

[9:7]  ²² tn Heb “I will avenge the shed blood of my servants the prophets and the shed blood of all the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel.”

[9:8]  ²³ tc The LXX has the second person, “you.”

[9:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and I will cut off from Ahab those who urinate against a wall, [including both those who are] restrained and let free [or, ‘abandoned’] in Israel.” On the phrase וְעָצוּר וְעָזוּב (vÿ’atsur vÿ’azur, translated here “weak and incapacitated”) see the note at 1 Kgs 14:10.

[10:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they were very, very afraid.” The term מְאֹד (me’od) “very,” is repeated for emphasis.

[10:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “did not stand before him.”

[10:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “How can we stand?”

[10:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “The man who escapes from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, [it will be] his life in place of his life.”

[11:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the gate of Sur” (followed by many English versions) but no such gate is mentioned elsewhere in the OT. The parallel account in 2 Chr 23:5 has “Foundation Gate.” סוּר (sur), “Sur,” may be a corruption of יְסוֹד (yÿsod) “foundation,” involving in part dalet-resh confusion.

[11:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the runners.”

[11:6]  ³¹ tn The meaning of מַסָּח (massakh) is not certain. The translation above, rather than understanding it as a genitive modifying “house,” takes it as an adverb describing how the groups will guard the palace. See HALOT 605 s.v. מַסָּח for the proposed meaning “alternating” (i.e., “in turns”).

[11:7]  ³² tn Verses 5b-7 read literally, “the third of you, the ones entering [on] the Sabbath and the ones guarding the guard of the house of the king, and the third in the gate of Sur, and the third in the gate behind the runners, and you will guard the guard of the house, alternating. And the two units of you, all the ones going out [on] the Sabbath, and they will guard the guard of the house of the Lord for the king.” The precise meaning of this text is impossible to determine. It would appear that the Carians and royal bodyguard were divided into three units. One unit would serve during the Sabbath; the other two would be off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada divided the first unit into three groups and assigned them different locations. The two off duty units were assigned the task of guarding the king.

[11:8]  ³³ tn Heb “and be with the king in his going out and in his coming in.”

[11:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “according to all that.”

[11:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “came.”

[12:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurer, and let them repair the damage of the temple, with respect to all the damage that is found there.” The word מַכָּר (makar), translated here “treasurer,” occurs only in this passage. Some suggest it means “merchant” or “benefactor.” Its usage in Ugaritic texts, where it appears in a list of temple officials, suggests that it refers in this context to individuals who were in charge of disbursing temple funds.

[12:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Now, do not take silver from your treasurers, because for the damages to the temple you must give it.”

[13:19]  ³⁸ tn Heb “man of God.”

[13:19]  ³⁹ tn Heb “[It was necessary] to strike five or six times, then you would strike down Syria until destruction.” On the syntax of the infinitive construct, see GKC 349 §114.k.

[14:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which the Lord commanded, saying.”

[14:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “on account of sons.”

[14:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “on account of fathers.”

[14:6]  ⁴³ sn This law is recorded in Deut 24:16.

[16:15]  ⁴⁴ tn That is, the newly constructed altar.

[16:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “for me to seek.” The precise meaning of בָּקַר (baqar), “seek,” is uncertain in this context. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189.

[17:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “went up against.”

[17:28]  ⁴⁷ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[17:28]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “fear.”

[17:35]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “covenant.”

[17:35]  ⁵⁰ sn That is, the descendants of Jacob/Israel (see v. 35b).

[17:36]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and outstretched arm.”

[18:14]  ⁵² tn Or “I have done wrong.”

[18:14]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”

[18:14]  ⁵⁴ 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 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.

[18:27]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[18:27]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

[18:27]  sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.

[19:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[19:10]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “will not be given.”

[20:9]  ⁵⁹ tn The Hebrew הָלַךְ (halakh, a perfect), “it has moved ahead,” should be emended to הֲיֵלֵךְ (hayelekh, an imperfect with interrogative he [ה] prefixed), “shall it move ahead.”

[21:19]  ⁶⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:19]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[22:5]  ⁶² tn Heb “doers of the work.”

[22:5]  ⁶³ tn Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages to the house.”

[24:1]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “In his days.”

[24:1]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “came up.” Perhaps an object (“against him”) has been accidentally omitted from the text. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 306.

[24:1]  ⁶⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “and he turned and rebelled against him.”

[24:3]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “Certainly according to the word of the Lord this happened against Judah, to remove [them] from his face because of the sins of Manasseh according to all which he did.”