2 Raja-raja 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man ¹  responded to the prophet, ²  “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ³  Elisha ⁴  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ⁵ 

2 Raja-raja 8:13

8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?” ⁶  Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.” ⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 17:15

17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ⁸  They paid allegiance to ⁹  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ¹⁰  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ¹¹ 

2 Raja-raja 23:17

23:17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet ¹²  who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

[7:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “man of God.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

[8:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.

[8:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”

[17:15]  ⁸ tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”

[17:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “They went [or, ‘followed’] after.” This idiom probably does not mean much if translated literally. It is found most often in Deuteronomy or in literature related to the covenant. It refers in the first instance to loyalty to God and to His covenant or His commandments (1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).

[17:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the Lord” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing”, which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.

[17:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the Lord commanded them not to do like them.”

[23:17]  ¹² tn Heb “man of God.”