2 Raja-raja 5:17

5:17 Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry, ¹  for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. ² 

2 Raja-raja 5:22

5:22 He answered, “Everything is fine. ³  My master sent me with this message, ‘Look, two servants of the prophets just arrived from the Ephraimite hill country. ⁴  Please give them a talent ⁵  of silver and two suits of clothes.’”

2 Raja-raja 14:9

14:9 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ⁶  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ⁷ 

[5:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and [if] not, may there be given to your servant a load [for] a pair of mules, earth.”

[5:17]  ² tn Heb “for your servant will not again make a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, only to the Lord.”

[5:22]  ³ tn Heb “peace.”

[5:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look now, here, two servants came to me from the Ephraimite hill country, from the sons of the prophets.”

[5:22]  ⁵ 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 75 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).

[14:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the animal of the field.”

[14:9]  ⁷ sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).