1:9 The king 1 sent a captain and his fifty soldiers 2 to retrieve Elijah. 3 The captain 4 went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. 5 He told him, “Prophet, 6 the king says, ‘Come down!’” 1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, 7 “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down 8 from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.
2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, 9 who were standing at a distance, 10 saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah 11 rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”
3 tn Heb “to him.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.
6 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).
7 tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”
8 tn Wordplay contributes to the irony here. The king tells Elijah to “come down” (Hebrew יָרַד, yarad), but Elijah calls fire down (יָרַד) on the arrogant king’s officer.
9 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
10 tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”
11 tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”