13:14 Now Elisha had a terminal illness. 5 King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. 6 He wept before him and said, “My father, my father! The chariot 7 and horsemen of Israel!” 8
20:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 9 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 10
1 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
2 tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”
3 tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”
4 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.
5 tn Heb “Now Elisha was ill with the illness by which he would die.”
6 tn Heb “went down to him.”
7 tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”
8 sn By comparing Elisha to a one-man army, the king emphasizes the power of the prophetic word. See the note at 2:12.
9 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”
10 tn Heb “will not live.”