2 Kings 22:10

22:10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king.

2 Kings 22:19

22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹  and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. ²  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

2 Kings 22:2

22:2 He did what the Lord approved ³  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ⁴  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

2 Kings 1:16-18

1:16 Elijah ⁵  said to the king, ⁶  “This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! ⁷  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁸ 

1:17 He died just as the Lord had prophesied through Elijah. ⁹  In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son. ¹⁰  1:18 The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹¹ 

2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ¹² 

Jonah 3:6

3:6 When the news ¹³  reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.

¹ tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”

² tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.

³ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is there no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”

⁸ sn For the third time in this chapter we read the Lord’s sarcastic question to king and the accompanying announcement of judgment. The repetition emphasizes one of the chapter’s main themes. Israel’s leaders should seek guidance from their own God, not a pagan deity, for Israel’s sovereign God is the one who controls life and death.

⁹ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke through Elijah.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Jehoram replaced him as king…because he had no son.” Some ancient textual witnesses add “his brother,” which was likely added on the basis of the statement later in the verse that Ahaziah had no son.

¹¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not recorded in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

¹² sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

¹³ tn Heb “word” or “matter.”