2 Kings 10:15

10:15 When he left there, he met ¹  Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him. ²  Jehu greeted him and asked, ³  “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?” ⁴  Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.” ⁵  So he offered his hand and Jehu ⁶  pulled him up into the chariot.

2 Kings 10:23-24

10:23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went to the temple of Baal. Jehu ⁷  said to the servants of Baal, “Make sure there are no servants of the Lord here with you; there must be only servants of Baal.” ⁸  10:24 They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives!” ⁹ 

[10:15]  ¹ tn Heb “found.”

[10:15]  ² tn Heb “and he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab [who was coming] to meet him.”

[10:15]  ³ tn Heb “and he blessed him and said to him.”

[10:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is there with your heart [what is] right, as my heart [is] with your heart?”

[10:15]  ⁵ tc Heb “Jehonadab said, ‘There is and there is. Give your hand.’” If the text is allowed to stand, there are two possible ways to understand the syntax of וָיֵשׁ (vayesh), “and there is”: (1) The repetition of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is and there is”) could be taken as emphatic, “indeed I am.” In this case, the entire statement could be taken as Jehonadab’s words or one could understand the words “give your hand” as Jehu’s. In the latter case the change in speakers is unmarked. (2) וָיֵשׁ begins Jehu’s response and has a conditional force, “if you are.” In this case, the transition in speakers is unmarked. However, it is possible that וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer), “and he said,” or וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא (vayyo’mer yehu), “and Jehu said,” originally appeared between יֵשׁ and וָיֵשׁ and has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note that both the proposed וַיֹּאמֶר and וָיֵשׁ begin with vav, ו). The present translation assumes such a textual reconstruction; it is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[10:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “Search carefully and observe so that there are not here with you any servants of the Lord, only the servants of Baal.”

[10:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “The man who escapes from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, [it will be] his life in place of his life.”