2 Kings 7:11

7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace. ¹ 

2 Kings 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man ²  responded to the prophet, ³  “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ⁴  Elisha ⁵  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ⁶ 

2 Kings 18:26

18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ⁷  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ⁸  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Psalms 127:1

Psalm 127 ⁹ 

A song of ascents, ¹⁰  by Solomon.

127:1 If the Lord does not build a house, ¹¹ 

then those who build it work in vain.

If the Lord does not guard a city, ¹² 

then the watchman stands guard in vain.

Mark 13:34-35

13:34 It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves ¹³  in charge, assigning ¹⁴  to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert. 13:35 Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return – whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn –

¹ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”

² tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

³ tn Heb “man of God.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

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

⁶ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

⁷ sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.

⁸ tn Or “Hebrew.”

⁹ sn Psalm 127. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist teaches that one does not find security by one’s own efforts, for God alone gives stability and security.

¹⁰ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

¹¹ sn The expression build a house may have a double meaning here. It may refer on the surface level to a literal physical structure in which a family lives, but at a deeper, metaphorical level it refers to building, perpetuating, and maintaining a family line. See Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; 1 Sam 2:35; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 11:38; 1 Chr 17:10, 25. Having a family line provided security in ancient Israel.

¹² sn The city symbolizes community security, which is the necessary framework for family security.

¹³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.

¹⁴ tn Grk “giving.”