1:11 The king 8 sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, 9 “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” 10
1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. 13
17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city 22 of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help 23 him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note 24 – he gave his promise 25 and did all these things – he will not escape!
17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him 26 for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.
1 tn Heb “came out.”
2 sn That is, the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, 597
3 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
5 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.
6 tn Heb “were killed before his eyes.”
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tc The MT reads, “he answered and said to him.” The verb “he answered” (וַיַּעַן, vayya’an) is probably a corruption of “he went up” (וַיַּעַל, vayya’al). See v. 9.
10 sn In this second panel of the three-paneled narrative, the king and his captain are more arrogant than before. The captain uses a more official sounding introduction (“this is what the king says”) and the king adds “at once” to the command.
11 tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”
12 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.
13 sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.
14 tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.
15 tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.
16 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.
17 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
18 tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).
19 tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”
20 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Heb “place.”
23 tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”
24 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.
25 sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).
26 tn Heb “place it on his head.”