2 Kings 1:16

1:16 Elijah ¹  said to the king, ²  “This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! ³  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁴ 

2 Kings 12:18

12:18 King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all ⁵  to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew ⁶  from Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:4

23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, ⁷  and the guards ⁸  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of ⁹  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. ¹⁰  The king ¹¹  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces ¹²  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ¹³ 

2 Kings 23:24

23:24 Josiah also got rid of ¹⁴  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ¹⁵  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ¹⁶  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ¹⁷  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

[1:16]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is there no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”

[1:16]  ⁴ sn For the third time in this chapter we read the Lord’s sarcastic question to king and the accompanying announcement of judgment. The repetition emphasizes one of the chapter’s main themes. Israel’s leaders should seek guidance from their own God, not a pagan deity, for Israel’s sovereign God is the one who controls life and death.

[12:18]  ⁵ tn The object (“it all”) is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “went up.”

[23:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.

[23:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “doorkeepers.”

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for.”

[23:4]  ¹² tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).

[23:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.

[23:4]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[23:24]  ¹³ tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.

[23:24]  ¹⁴ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.

[23:24]  ¹⁵ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

[23:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”