2 Kings 1:5

1:5 When the messengers returned to the king, ¹  he asked them, “Why have you returned?”

2 Kings 9:20

9:20 The watchman reported, “He reached them, but hasn’t started back. The one who drives the lead chariot drives like Jehu son of Nimshi; ²  he drives recklessly.”

2 Kings 10:7

10:7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. ³  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

2 Kings 22:15

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:

2 Kings 1:12

1:12 Elijah replied to them, ⁴  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ⁵  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 6:11

6:11 This made the king of Syria upset. ⁶  So he summoned his advisers ⁷  and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.” ⁸ 

2 Kings 9:11

9:11 When Jehu rejoined ⁹  his master’s servants, they ¹⁰  asked him, “Is everything all right? ¹¹  Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” ¹² 

2 Kings 11:15

11:15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, ¹³  “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. ¹⁴  Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple. ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 13:23

13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ¹⁶  He extended his favor to them ¹⁷  because of the promise he had made ¹⁸  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ¹⁹ 

2 Kings 18:27

18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ²⁰  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.” ²¹ 

2 Kings 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ²²  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ²³  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ²⁴  men of the city were raising them.

¹ tn Heb “to him.”

² tn Heb “and the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi.”

³ tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”

⁴ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

⁵ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “and the heart of the king of Syria was stirred up over this thing.”

⁶ tn Heb “servants.”

⁷ tn Heb “Will you not tell me who among us [is] for the king of Israel?” The sarcastic rhetorical question expresses the king’s suspicion.

⁶ tn Heb “went out to.”

⁷ tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.

⁸ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

⁹ tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.

⁷ tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.

⁸ tn Heb “ranks.”

⁹ tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord.’”

⁸ tn Or “showed them compassion.”

⁹ tn Heb “he turned to them.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”

¹¹ tn Heb “until now.”

⁹ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

¹⁰ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

¹¹ sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

¹² tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.