Now the famine was severe in Samaria. 4
20:1 Now King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled all his army, along with thirty-two other kings with their horses and chariots. He marched against Samaria 5 and besieged and attacked it. 6
17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), 9 there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” 10
4:4 But he had 12 to pass through Samaria. 13 4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town 14 called Sychar, 15 near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 16
1 tn Heb “for the word which he cried out by the word of the
2 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
3 tn Heb “Samaria.” The name of Israel’s capital city here stands for the northern kingdom as a whole. Actually Samaria was not built and named until several years after this (see 1 Kgs 16:24), so it is likely that the author of Kings, writing at a later time, is here adapting the old prophet’s original statement.
4 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
5 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
6 tn Heb “and he went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it.”
7 tn Heb “and the king died and he came to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.”
8 tn The word “visit” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
10 tn Heb “except at the command of my word.”
11 tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the
12 sn Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan). Although some take the impersonal verb had to (δεῖ, dei) here to indicate logical necessity only, normally in John’s Gospel its use involves God’s will or plan (3:7, 3:14, 3:30, 4:4, 4:20, 4:24, 9:4, 10:16, 12:34, 20:9).
13 sn Samaria. The Samaritans were descendants of 2 groups: (1) The remnant of native Israelites who were not deported after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722
14 tn Grk “town of Samaria.” The noun Σαμαρείας (Samareias) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
15 sn Sychar was somewhere in the vicinity of Shechem, possibly the village of Askar, 1.5 km northeast of Jacob’s well.
16 sn Perhaps referred to in Gen 48:22.
17 tn The word “main” is supplied in the translation to clarify that “Samaria” is not the name of the city (at least in NT times). See both BDAG 912 s.v. Σαμάρεια, and L&N 93.568.
18 tn The imperfect ἐκήρυσσεν (ekhrussen) has been translated as an ingressive, since this is probably the first time such preaching took place.
19 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
20 tn Grk “to what was being said by Philip,” a passive construction that has been changed to active voice in the translation.
21 tn Here the following context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned. This term appears 13 times in Acts, but only twice more after Acts 8:13 (i.e., 14:3; 15:12).
22 sn The expression unclean spirits refers to evil supernatural spirits which were ceremonially unclean, and which caused the persons possessed by them to be ceremonially unclean.
23 tn Grk “For [in the case of] many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out, crying in a loud voice.”
24 tn Grk “and there came about,” but this is somewhat awkward in English.
25 sn Great joy. The reason for eschatological joy was that such events pointed to God’s decisive deliverance (Luke 7:22-23). Note how the acts of healing extend beyond the Twelve here.