2 Kings 2:2

2:2 Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” ¹  But Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

2 Kings 17:28

17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ²  He taught them how to worship ³  the Lord.

2 Kings 2:3

2:3 Some members of the prophetic guild ⁴  in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” ⁵  He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

2 Kings 2:23

2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. ⁶  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ⁷  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

2 Kings 10:29

A Summary of Jehu’s Reign

10:29 However, Jehu did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat had encouraged Israel to commit; the golden calves remained in Bethel ⁸  and Dan. ⁹ 

2 Kings 23:19

23:19 Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord. ¹⁰  He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel. ¹¹ 

2 Kings 23:15

23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel ¹²  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ¹³  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 23:17

23:17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet ¹⁵  who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

2 Kings 23:4

23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, ¹⁶  and the guards ¹⁷  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of ¹⁸  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. ¹⁹  The king ²⁰  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces ²¹  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ²² 

2 Kings 23:16

23:16 When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought; ²³  he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord’s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah ²⁴  turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this. ²⁵ 

¹ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

² map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

³ tn Heb “fear.”

³ tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”

⁴ tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.

⁴ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁵ tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.

⁵ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁶ tn Heb “Except the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat which he caused Israel to commit, Jehu did not turn aside from after them – the golden calves which [were in] Bethel and which [were] in Dan.”

⁶ tc Heb “which the kings of Israel had made, angering.” The object has been accidentally omitted in the MT. It appears in the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate versions.

⁷ tn Heb “and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.”

⁷ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁸ tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.

⁹ tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

⁸ tn Heb “man of God.”

⁹ tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.

¹⁰ tn Or “doorkeepers.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for.”

¹² tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).

¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.

¹⁵ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

¹² tc The MT is much shorter than this. It reads, “according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” The LXX has a much longer text at this point. It reads: “[which was proclaimed by the man of God] while Jeroboam stood by the altar at a celebration. Then he turned and saw the grave of the man of God [who proclaimed these words].” The extra material attested in the LXX was probably accidentally omitted in the Hebrew tradition when a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the phrase “man of God” (which appears right before the extra material) and the second occurrence of the phrase (which appears at the end of the extra material).