2 Kings 6:1

Elisha Makes an Ax Head Float

6:1 Some of the prophets ¹  said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you ²  is too cramped ³  for us.

2 Kings 25:26

25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for ⁴  Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.

2 Kings 4:10

4:10 Let’s make a small private upper room ⁵  and furnish it with ⁶  a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay there.”

2 Kings 23:2

23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud ⁷  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple.

2 Kings 10:18

Jehu Executes the Prophets and Priests of Baal

10:18 Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab worshiped ⁸  Baal a little; Jehu will worship ⁹  him with great devotion. ¹⁰ 

2 Kings 2:23

2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. ¹¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ¹²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

2 Kings 19:26

19:26 Their residents are powerless, ¹³ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field,

or green vegetation. ¹⁴ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ¹⁵ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ¹⁶ 

2 Kings 3:18

3:18 This is an easy task for the Lord; ¹⁷  he will also hand Moab over to you.

2 Kings 4:2

4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.”

2 Kings 6:25

6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out. ¹⁸  They laid siege to it so long that ¹⁹  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ²⁰  and a quarter of a kab ²¹  of dove’s droppings ²²  for five shekels of silver. ²³ 

2 Kings 23:6

23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ²⁴  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ²⁵ 

2 Kings 4:39

4:39 Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. ²⁶  He picked some of its fruit, ²⁷  enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices ²⁸  into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful. ²⁹ 

2 Kings 23:15

23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel ³⁰  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ³¹  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³² 

¹ tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”

² tn Heb “sit before you.”

³ tn Heb “narrow, tight.”

⁴ tn Heb “arose and went to.”

⁷ tn Heb “a small upper room of a wall”; according to HALOT 832 s.v. עֲלִיָּה, this refers to “a fully walled upper room.”

⁸ tn Heb “and let’s put there for him.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “read in their ears.”

¹³ tn Or “served.

¹⁴ tn Or “serve.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “much” or “greatly.”

¹⁶ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

¹⁷ 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.

¹⁹ tn Heb “short of hand.”

²⁰ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

²¹ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

²² tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah), “standing grain,” to קָדִים (qadim), “east wind” (with the support of 1Q Isa^a in Isa 37:27).

²² tn Heb “and this is easy in the eyes of the Lord.”

²⁵ tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”

²⁶ tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”

²⁷ tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

²⁸ sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.

²⁹ tn The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 79) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.

³⁰ tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

²⁸ tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”

²⁹ tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”

³¹ tn Heb “a vine of the field.”

³² tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”

³³ tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”

³⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

³⁴ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

³⁵ 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.

³⁶ 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.