2 Raja-raja 2:4-6

2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” ¹  But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. 2:5 Some members of the prophetic guild in Jericho approached Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

2:6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they traveled on together.

2 Raja-raja 3:11

3:11 Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?” ²  One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” ³ 

2 Raja-raja 4:1

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets ⁴  appealed ⁵  to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. ⁶  Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”

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.” ⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 6:17

6:17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” The Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw that ⁸  the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Raja-raja 6:20

6:20 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. ⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 7:1

7:1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah ¹⁰  of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’”

2 Raja-raja 9:25

9:25 Jehu ordered ¹¹  his officer Bidkar, “Pick him up and throw him into the part of the field that once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel. Remember, you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, when the Lord pronounced this judgment on him,

2 Raja-raja 11:15

11:15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, ¹²  “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. ¹³  Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple. ¹⁴ 

2 Raja-raja 11:18-19

11:18 All the people of the land went and demolished ¹⁵  the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols ¹⁶  to bits. ¹⁷  They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altar. Jehoiada the priest ¹⁸  then placed guards at the Lord’s temple. 11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ¹⁹  and the king ²⁰  sat down on the royal throne.

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.” ²¹ 

2 Raja-raja 17:27

17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you ²²  deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” ²³ 

2 Raja-raja 21:3

21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ²⁴  and worshiped ²⁵  them.

2 Raja-raja 21:7

21:7 He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ²⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 22:9

22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, ²⁷  “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple ²⁸  and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.”

2 Raja-raja 22:13

22:13 “Go, seek an oracle from ²⁹  the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about ³⁰  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ³¹  because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” ³² 

2 Raja-raja 22:19

22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ³³  and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. ³⁴  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

2 Raja-raja 23:2-3

23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud ³⁵  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. 23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed ³⁶  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ³⁷  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ³⁸  by carrying out the terms ³⁹  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. ⁴⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 23:6

23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ⁴¹  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ⁴² 

2 Raja-raja 23:11-12

23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ⁴³  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ⁴⁴  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ⁴⁵  23:12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ⁴⁶  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

2 Raja-raja 23:24

23:24 Josiah also got rid of ⁴⁷  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ⁴⁸  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ⁴⁹  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁵⁰  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

2 Raja-raja 23:27

23:27 The Lord announced, “I will also spurn Judah, ⁵¹  just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose – both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, “I will live there.” ⁵² 

2 Raja-raja 24:2

24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. ⁵³ 

[2:4]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “that we might inquire of the Lord through him?”

[3:11]  ³ tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Or “cried out.”

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

[5:18]  ⁷ 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.

[6:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he saw, and look.”

[6:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they saw, and look, [they were] in the middle of Samaria.”

[7:1]  ¹⁰ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[9:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said to.”

[11:15]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[11:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “ranks.”

[11:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord.’”

[11:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “tore down.”

[11:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “images.”

[11:18]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew construction translated “smashed…to bits” is emphatic. The adverbial infinitive absolute (הֵיטֵב [hetev], “well”) accompanying the Piel form of the verb שָׁבַר (shavar), “break,” suggests thorough demolition.

[11:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the priest.” Jehoiada’s name is added for clarification.

[11:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

[11:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “Now, do not take silver from your treasurers, because for the damages to the temple you must give it.”

[17:27]  ²² tc The second plural subject may refer to the leaders of the Assyrian army. However, some prefer to read “whom I deported,” changing the verb to a first person singular form with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix. This reading has some support from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic witnesses.

[17:27]  ²³ tc Heb “and let them go and let them live there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” The two plural verbs seem inconsistent with the preceding and following contexts, where only one priest is sent back to Samaria. The singular has the support of Greek, Syriac, and Latin witnesses.

[21:3]  ²⁴ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.

[21:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “served.”

[21:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name perpetually (or perhaps “forever”).”

[22:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”

[22:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “that was found in the house.”

[22:13]  ²⁹ tn Or “inquire of.”

[22:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “concerning.”

[22:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”

[22:13]  ³² tn Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”

[22:19]  ³³ tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”

[22:19]  ³⁴ tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.

[23:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “read in their ears.”

[23:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”

[23:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “walk after.”

[23:3]  ³⁸ tn Or “soul.”

[23:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “words.”

[23:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “stood in the covenant.”

[23:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”

[23:6]  ⁴² tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”

[23:6]  tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.

[23:11]  ⁴³ tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”

[23:12]  ⁴⁶ tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.

[23:24]  ⁴⁷ tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.

[23:24]  ⁴⁸ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.

[23:24]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

[23:24]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”

[23:27]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “Also Judah I will turn away from my face.”

[23:27]  ⁵² tn Heb “My name will be there.”

[24:2]  ⁵³ tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.”