1:4 So I will set Hazael’s house 1 on fire;
fire 2 will consume Ben Hadad’s 3 fortresses.
6:9 If ten men are left in one house, they too will die.
3:13 Listen and warn 4 the family 5 of Jacob! 6
The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, 7 is speaking!
1 tn “Hazael’s house” (“the house of Hazael”) refers to the dynasty of Hazael.
2 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 sn Ben-hadad may refer to Hazael’s son and successor (2 Kgs 13:3, 24) or to an earlier king (see 1 Kgs 20), perhaps the ruler whom Hazael assassinated when he assumed power.
4 tn Or “testify against.”
5 tn Heb “house.”
6 tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.
7 tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”