2 Kings 8:8-15

8:8 So the king told Hazael, “Take a gift¹ and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the Lord. Ask him,² ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 8:9 So Hazael went to visit Elisha.³ He took along a gift,⁴ as well as⁵ forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, “Your son,⁶ King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question,⁷ ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’⁸ but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.” 8:11 Elisha⁹ just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable.¹⁰ Then the prophet started crying. 8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.” 8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?”¹¹ Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.”¹² 8:14 He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad¹³ asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael¹⁴ replied, “He told me you would surely recover.” 8:15 The next day Hazael¹⁵ took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s¹⁶ face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king.

¹tn The Hebrew text also has “in your hand.”

²tn Heb “Inquire of the Lord through him, saying.”

³tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”

⁵tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”

⁶sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.

⁷tn Heb “saying.”

⁸tc The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “Go, say, ‘Surely you will not (לֹא, lo’) recover” In this case the vav beginning the next clause should be translated, “for, because.” The marginal reading (Qere) has, “Go, say to him (לוֹ, lo), ‘You will surely recover.” In this case the vav (ו) beginning the next clause should be translated, “although, but.” The Qere has the support of some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, and is consistent with v. 14, where Hazael tells the king, “You will surely recover.” It is possible that a scribe has changed לוֹ, “to him,” to לֹא, “not,” because he felt that Elisha would not lie to the king. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 90. Another possibility is that a scribe has decided to harmonize Elisha’s message with Hazael’s words in v. 14. But it is possible that Hazael, once he found out he would become the next king, decided to lie to the king to facilitate his assassination plot by making the king feel secure.

⁹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰tn Heb “and he made his face stand [i.e., be motionless] and set [his face?] until embarrassment.”

¹¹tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.

¹²tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”

¹³tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶tn Heb “his”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.