2 Raja-raja 22:8-20

22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, ¹  “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple ²  and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” 22:10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. 22:11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. 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, 22:13 “Go, seek an oracle from ³  the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about ⁴  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ⁵  because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” ⁶ 

22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. ⁷  (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh ⁸  district.) They stated their business, ⁹  22:15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me: 22:16 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁰  22:17 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ¹²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’” 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: 22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹³  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. ¹⁴  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord. 22:20 ‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace. ¹⁵  You will not have to witness ¹⁶  all the disaster I will bring on this place.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.

2 Raja-raja 22:1

Josiah Repents

22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ¹⁷  His mother ¹⁸  was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath.

2 Raja-raja 1:1-18

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ¹⁹  1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ²⁰  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ²¹  “Go, ask ²²  Baal Zebub, ²³  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. ²⁴  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.

1:5 When the messengers returned to the king, ²⁵  he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 1:6 They replied, ²⁶  “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. ²⁷  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’” 1:7 The king ²⁸  asked them, “Describe the appearance ²⁹  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.” 1:8 They replied, ³⁰  “He was a hairy man ³¹  and had a leather belt ³²  tied around his waist.” The king ³³  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

1:9 The king ³⁴  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ³⁵  to retrieve Elijah. ³⁶  The captain ³⁷  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ³⁸  He told him, “Prophet, ³⁹  the king says, ‘Come down!’” 1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ⁴⁰  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ⁴¹  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

1:11 The king ⁴²  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ⁴³  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ⁴⁴  1:12 Elijah replied to them, ⁴⁵  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ⁴⁶  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

1:13 The king ⁴⁷  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ⁴⁸  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 1:14 Indeed, ⁴⁹  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ⁵⁰  So now, please have respect for my life.” 1:15 The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down ⁵¹  with him to the king.

1:16 Elijah ⁵²  said to the king, ⁵³  “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! ⁵⁴  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁵⁵ 

1:17 He died just as the Lord had prophesied through Elijah. ⁵⁶  In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son. ⁵⁷  1:18 The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ⁵⁸ 

[22:9]  ¹ tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”

[22:9]  ² tn Heb “that was found in the house.”

[22:13]  ³ tn Or “inquire of.”

[22:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “concerning.”

[22:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”

[22:13]  ⁶ 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.”

[22:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”

[22:14]  ⁸ tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.

[22:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”

[22:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read.”

[22:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “burned incense.”

[22:17]  ¹² tn Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The translation assumes that this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods,” as well as 19:18). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”

[22:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”

[22:19]  ¹⁴ 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.

[22:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Therefore, look, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tomb in peace.”

[22:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your eyes will not see.”

[22:1]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[1:1]  ¹⁹ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

[1:2]  ²⁰ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”

[1:2]  ²² tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”

[1:2]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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.

[1:5]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:6]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “What was the manner…?”

[1:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:8]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).

[1:8]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁸ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[1:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

[1:10]  ⁴¹ tn Wordplay contributes to the irony here. The king tells Elijah to “come down” (Hebrew יָרַד, yarad), but Elijah calls fire down (יָרַד) on the arrogant king’s officer.

[1:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:11]  ⁴³ tc The MT reads, “he answered and said to him.” The verb “he answered” (וַיַּעַן, vayya’an) is probably a corruption of “he went up” (וַיַּעַל, vayya’al). See v. 9.

[1:11]  ⁴⁴ sn In this second panel of the three-paneled narrative, the king and his captain are more arrogant than before. The captain uses a more official sounding introduction (“this is what the king says”) and the king adds “at once” to the command.

[1:12]  ⁴⁵ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

[1:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “intense fire.” The divine name may be used idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the fire. Whether one translates אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) here as a proper name or idiomatically, this addition to the narrative (the name is omitted in the first panel, v. 10b) emphasizes the severity of the judgment and is appropriate given the more intense command delivered by the king to the prophet in this panel.

[1:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”

[1:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “look.”

[1:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “their fifty.”

[1:15]  ⁵¹ sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.

[1:16]  ⁵² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁵³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁵⁴ 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]  ⁵⁵ 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.

[1:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke through Elijah.”

[1:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “Jehoram replaced him as king…because he had no son.” Some ancient textual witnesses add “his brother,” which was likely added on the basis of the statement later in the verse that Ahaziah had no son.

[1:18]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not recorded in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”