2 Chronicles 15:1

15:1 God’s Spirit came upon Azariah son of Oded.

2 Chronicles 18:20

18:20 Then a spirit ¹  stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked him, ‘How?’

2 Chronicles 21:16

21:16 The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines ²  and the Arabs who lived beside the Cushites.

2 Chronicles 18:21-22

18:21 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord ³  said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. ⁴  Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 18:22 So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

2 Chronicles 9:4

9:4 the food in his banquet hall, ⁵  his servants and attendants ⁶  in their robes, his cupbearers in their robes, and his burnt sacrifices which he presented in the Lord’s temple, ⁷  she was amazed. ⁸ 

2 Chronicles 18:23

18:23 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”

2 Chronicles 20:14

20:14 Then in the midst of the assembly, the Lord’s Spirit came upon Jachaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph.

2 Chronicles 24:20

24:20 God’s Spirit energized ⁹  Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you violating the commands of the Lord? You will not be prosperous! Because you have rejected the Lord, he has rejected you!’”

2 Chronicles 36:22

Cyrus Allows the Exiles to Go Home

36:22 In the first year of the reign of ¹⁰  King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah, ¹¹  the Lord moved ¹²  King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.

[18:20]  ¹ tn Heb “the spirit.” The significance of the article prefixed to רוּחַ (ruakh) is uncertain, but it could contain a clue as to this spirit’s identity, especially when interpreted in light of verse 23. It is certainly possible, and probably even likely, that the article is used in a generic or dramatic sense and should be translated, “a spirit.” In the latter case it would show that this spirit was vivid and definite in the mind of Micaiah the storyteller. However, if one insists that the article indicates a well-known or universally known spirit, the following context provides a likely referent. Verse 23 tells how Zedekiah slapped Micaiah in the face and then asked sarcastically, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord (רוּחַ־יְהוָה, ruakh-yÿhvah) go when he went from me to speak to you?” When the phrase “the spirit of the Lord” refers to the divine spirit (rather than the divine breath or mind, as in Isa 40:7, 13) elsewhere, the spirit energizes an individual or group for special tasks or moves one to prophesy. This raises the possibility that the deceiving spirit of vv. 20-22 is the same as the divine spirit mentioned by Zedekiah in v. 23. This would explain why the article is used on רוּחַ (ruakh); he can be called “the spirit” because he is the well-known spirit who energizes the prophets.

[21:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the spirit of the Philistines.”

[18:21]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ² tn The Hebrew text has two imperfects connected by וְגַם (vÿgam). These verbs could be translated as specific futures, “you will deceive and also you will prevail,” in which case the Lord is assuring the spirit of success on his mission. However, in a commissioning context (note the following imperatives) such as this, it is more likely that the imperfects are injunctive, in which case one could translate, “Deceive, and also overpower.”

[9:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the food on his table.”

[9:4]  ² tn Heb “the seating of his servants and the standing of his attendants.”

[9:4]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has here, “and his upper room [by] which he was going up to the house of the Lord.” But עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper room”) should be emended to עֹלָתוֹ, (’olato, “his burnt sacrifice[s]”). See the parallel account in 1 Kgs 10:5.

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Or “it took her breath away”; Heb “there was no breath still in her.”

[24:20]  ¹ tn Heb “clothed.”

[36:22]  ¹ tn The words “the reign of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[36:22]  ² tn Heb “to complete the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.”

[36:22]  ³ tn Heb “stirred the spirit of.”