2 Kings 17:9

17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ¹  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ² 

2 Kings 17:2

17:2 He did evil in the sight of ³  the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him.

2 Kings 1:10

1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ⁴  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ⁵  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

Isaiah 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁶  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ⁷ 

¹ tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayÿkhappÿ’u), translated here “said,” is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root חָפַה (khafah), “to cover,” and translate “they did it in secret” (see BDB 341 s.v. חָפָא). However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning “ascribe, impute,” which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support (see HALOT 339 s.v. חפא). In this case Israel claimed that the Lord authorized their pagan practices.

² sn That is, from the city’s perimeter to the central citadel.

³ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

⁴ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

⁷ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).