2 Kings 22:12-14

22:12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, 22:13 “Go, seek an oracle from ¹  the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about ²  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ³  because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” ⁴ 

22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. ⁵  (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh ⁶  district.) They stated their business, ⁷ 

2 Kings 22:2

22:2 He did what the Lord approved ⁸  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ⁹  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

2 Kings 1:14

1:14 Indeed, ¹⁰  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ¹¹  So now, please have respect for my life.”

2 Kings 1:8

1:8 They replied, ¹²  “He was a hairy man ¹³  and had a leather belt ¹⁴  tied around his waist.” The king ¹⁵  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

¹ tn Or “inquire of.”

² tn Heb “concerning.”

³ tn Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”

⁴ tn Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”

⁵ tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”

⁶ tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.

⁷ tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”

⁸ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “look.”

¹¹ tn Heb “their fifty.”

¹² tn Heb “said to him.”

¹³ tn Heb “an owner of hair.” This idiomatic expression indicates that Elijah was very hairy. For other examples where the idiom “owner of” is used to describe a characteristic of someone, see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל. For example, an “owner of dreams” is one who frequently has dreams (Gen 37:19) and an “owner of anger” is a hot-tempered individual (Prov 22:24).

¹⁴ tn Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).

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