2 Kings 2:1

Elijah Makes a Swift Departure

2:1 Just before ¹  the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

2 Kings 21:5

21:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.

2 Kings 1:10

1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ²  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ³  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

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 1:14

1:14 Indeed, ⁶  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ⁷  So now, please have respect for my life.”

2 Kings 2:11

2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot ⁸  pulled by fiery horses appeared. ⁹  They went between Elijah and Elisha, ¹⁰  and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.

2 Kings 14:27

14:27 The Lord had not decreed that he would blot out Israel’s memory ¹¹  from under heaven, ¹²  so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.

2 Kings 17:16

17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, ¹³  and worshiped ¹⁴  Baal.

2 Kings 19:15

19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! ¹⁵  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ¹⁶  and the earth.

2 Kings 21:3

21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ¹⁷  and worshiped ¹⁸  them.

2 Kings 23:5

23:5 He eliminated ¹⁹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²⁰  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ²¹  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

2 Kings 23:4

23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, ²²  and the guards ²³  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of ²⁴  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. ²⁵  The king ²⁶  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces ²⁷  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ²⁸ 

¹ tn Or “when.”

² tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

³ 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.

³ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

⁴ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “look.”

⁵ tn Heb “their fifty.”

⁵ tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”

⁶ tn Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”

⁷ tn Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”

⁶ tn Heb “name.”

⁷ tn The phrase “from under heaven” adds emphasis to the verb “blot out” and suggest total annihilation. For other examples of the verb מָחָה (makhah), “blot out,” combined with “from under heaven,” see Exod 17:14; Deut 9:14; 25:19; 29:20.

⁷ tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.

⁸ tn Or “served.”

⁸ sn This refers to the cherub images that were above the ark of the covenant.

⁹ tn Or “the heavens.”

⁹ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.

¹⁰ tn Or “served.”

¹⁰ tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”

¹¹ tn Or “burn incense.”

¹² tn Or “burned incense.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.

¹² tn Or “doorkeepers.”

¹³ tn Heb “for.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).

¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.

¹⁷ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.