2 Kings 1:4

1:4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

2 Kings 1:11

1:11 The king ¹  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ²  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ³ 

2 Kings 3:17

3:17 for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel ⁴  any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’

2 Kings 4:43

4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” ⁵  He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” ⁶ 

2 Kings 6:10

6:10 So the king of Israel sent a message to the place the prophet had pointed out, warning it ⁷  to be on its guard. This happened on several occasions. ⁸ 

2 Kings 7:1

7:1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah ⁹  of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’”

2 Kings 8:10

8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’ ¹⁰  but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.”

2 Kings 8:19

8:19 But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of ¹¹  his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty. ¹² 

2 Kings 18:25

18:25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March ¹³  up against this land and destroy it.’”’” ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 18:29

18:29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand! ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 21:12

21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. ¹⁶ 

2 Kings 22:15

22:15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me:

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:11]  ² tc The MT reads, “he answered and said to him.” The verb “he answered” (וַיַּעַן, vayya’an) is probably a corruption of “he went up” (וַיַּעַל, vayya’al). See v. 9.

[1:11]  ³ sn In this second panel of the three-paneled narrative, the king and his captain are more arrogant than before. The captain uses a more official sounding introduction (“this is what the king says”) and the king adds “at once” to the command.

[3:17]  ¹ tn Heb “see.”

[4:43]  ¹ tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”

[4:43]  ² tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.

[6:10]  ¹ tn The vav + perfect here indicates action contemporary with the preceding main verb (“sent”). See IBHS 533-34 §32.2.3e.

[6:10]  ² tn Heb “and the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God spoke to him, and he warned it and he guarded himself there, not once and not twice.”

[7:1]  ¹ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[8:10]  ¹ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “Go, say, ‘Surely you will not (לֹא, lo’) recover” In this case the vav beginning the next clause should be translated, “for, because.” The marginal reading (Qere) has, “Go, say to him (לוֹ, lo), ‘You will surely recover.” In this case the vav (ו) beginning the next clause should be translated, “although, but.” The Qere has the support of some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, and is consistent with v. 14, where Hazael tells the king, “You will surely recover.” It is possible that a scribe has changed לוֹ, “to him,” to לֹא, “not,” because he felt that Elisha would not lie to the king. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 90. Another possibility is that a scribe has decided to harmonize Elisha’s message with Hazael’s words in v. 14. But it is possible that Hazael, once he found out he would become the next king, decided to lie to the king to facilitate his assassination plot by making the king feel secure.

[8:19]  ¹ tn The Hebrew has only one sentence, “and the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah for the sake of.” The translation divides it for the sake of clarity.

[8:19]  ² tn Heb “just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty; this is reflected in the translation.

[18:25]  ¹ tn Heb “Go.”

[18:25]  ² sn In v. 25 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 22. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.

[18:29]  ¹ tc The MT has “his hand,” but this is due to graphic confusion of vav (ו) and yod (י). The translation reads “my hand,” along with many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate.

[21:12]  ¹ tn Heb “so that everyone who hears it, his two ears will quiver.”