9:1 Now Elisha the prophet summoned a member of the prophetic guild 3 and told him, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take this container 4 of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.
17:1 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria 6 for nine years.
2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, 7 who were standing at a distance, 8 saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah 9 rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
1 tn Heb “and he came to them.”
2 tc The MT has simply “peace,” omitting the prefixed interrogative particle. It is likely that the particle has been accidentally omitted; several ancient witnesses include it or assume its presence.
3 tn Heb “one of the sons of the prophets.”
4 tn Or “flask.”
5 tn Heb “turn away from.”
6 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
7 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
8 tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”
9 tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”
10 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
11 tn Grk “Into whatever house you enter.” This acts as a distributive, meaning every house they enter; this is expressed more naturally in English as “whenever you enter a house.”
12 sn The statement ‘May peace be on this house!’ is really a benediction, asking for God’s blessing. The requested shalom (peace) is understood as coming from God.
13 tn Grk “a son of peace,” a Hebrew idiom for a person of a certain class or kind, as specified by the following genitive construction (in this case, “of peace”). Such constructions are discussed further in L&N 9.4. Here the expression refers to someone who responds positively to the disciples’ message, like “wisdom’s child” in Luke 7:30.
14 sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if they are not welcomed with peace, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.