2 Kings 17:13

17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” ¹ 

2 Kings 17:2

17:2 He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him.

2 Kings 1:15

1:15 The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down ³  with him to the king.

Jeremiah 7:25

7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, ⁴  I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, ⁵  day after day. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 25:4

25:4 Over and over again ⁷  the Lord has sent ⁸  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “obey my commandments and rules according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”

² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

³ sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.

⁴ tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”

⁵ tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.

⁶ tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).

⁷ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

⁸ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

⁹ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).