2 Kings 7:9-11

7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone. ¹  If we wait until dawn, ²  we’ll be punished. ³  So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers ⁴  of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. ⁵  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” ⁶  7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace. ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”

² tn Heb “the light of the morning.”

³ tn Heb “punishment will find us.”

⁴ tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

⁵ tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

⁶ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”