2 Kings 8:29

8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ¹  in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit ²  Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

2 Kings 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ³  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ⁴  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ⁵  men of the city were raising them.

2 Kings 14:9

14:9 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ⁶  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ⁷ 

2 Kings 20:13

20:13 Hezekiah welcomed ⁸  them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom. ⁹ 

2 Kings 23:3

23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed ¹⁰  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ¹¹  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ¹²  by carrying out the terms ¹³  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 23:24

23:24 Josiah also got rid of ¹⁵  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ¹⁶  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ¹⁷  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ¹⁸  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

¹ tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”

² tn Heb “to see.”

³ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

⁴ sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

⁵ tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.

⁵ tn Heb “the animal of the field.”

⁶ sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).

⁷ tc Heb “listened to.” Some Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate versions agree with the parallel passage in Isa 39:2 and read, “was happy with.”

⁸ tn Heb “there was nothing which Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his kingdom.”

⁹ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “walk after.”

¹¹ tn Or “soul.”

¹² tn Heb “words.”

¹³ tn Heb “stood in the covenant.”

¹¹ tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.

¹² sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.

¹³ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

¹⁴ tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”