13:14 Now Elisha had a terminal illness. 2 King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. 3 He wept before him and said, “My father, my father! The chariot 4 and horsemen of Israel!” 5
20:20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring 9 water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 10
7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw 11 him making locusts just as the crops planted late 12 were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. 13 ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! 14
How can Jacob survive? 15
He is too weak!” 16
7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. 17 “It will not happen,” the Lord said.
7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw 18 the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. 19 It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.
7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!
How can Jacob survive? 20
He is too weak!” 21
7:6 The Lord decided not to do this. 22 The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”
1 sn Elisha may be referring to the fiery chariot(s) and horses as the Lord’s spiritual army that fights on behalf of Israel (see 2 Kgs 6:15-17; 7:6). However, the juxtaposition with “my father” (clearly a reference to Elijah as Elisha’s mentor), and the parallel in 2 Kgs 13:14 (where the king addresses Elisha with these words), suggest that Elisha is referring to Elijah. In this case Elijah is viewed as a one man army, as it were. When the Lord spoke through him, his prophetic word was as powerful as an army of chariots and horses. See M. A. Beek, “The Meaning of the Expression ‘The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel’ (II Kings ii 12),” The Witness of Tradition (OTS 17), 1-10.
2 tn Heb “Now Elisha was ill with the illness by which he would die.”
3 tn Heb “went down to him.”
4 tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”
5 sn By comparing Elisha to a one-man army, the king emphasizes the power of the prophetic word. See the note at 2:12.
6 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
7 tn Heb “walked after.”
8 tn Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”
9 tn Heb “and he brought.”
10 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Hezekiah, and all his strength, and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water to the city, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
11 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
12 sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.
13 tn Or “the mowings of the king.”
14 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
16 tn Heb “small.”
17 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
18 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
19 tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).
20 tn Heb “stand.”
21 tn Heb “small.”
22 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
23 tn Grk “came to me saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
24 tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 2.a.α states, “Also as a t.t. of legal usage appear before, come before…Καίσαρι σε δεῖ παραστῆναι you must stand before the Emperor (as judge) Ac 27:24.” See Acts 23:11. Luke uses the verb δεῖ (dei) to describe what must occur.
25 tn Or “before the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
26 tn Grk “God has graciously granted you all who are sailing with you.” The words “the safety of” have been supplied to clarify the meaning of the verb κεχάρισται (kecaristai) in this context.