2 Kings 1:7

1:7 The king ¹  asked them, “Describe the appearance ²  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.”

2 Kings 1:11

1:11 The king ³  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ⁴  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ⁵ 

2 Kings 1:15

1:15 The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down ⁶  with him to the king.

2 Kings 5:25

5:25 When he came and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant hasn’t been anywhere.”

2 Kings 6:8

Elisha Defeats an Army

6:8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade ⁷  at such and such ⁸  a place.”

2 Kings 6:18

6:18 As they approached him, ⁹  Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people ¹⁰  with blindness.” ¹¹  The Lord ¹²  struck them with blindness as Elisha requested. ¹³ 

2 Kings 9:12

9:12 But they said, “You’re lying! Tell us what he said.” So he told them what he had said. He also related how he had said, ¹⁴  “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have designated you as king over Israel.’”

2 Kings 9:32

9:32 He looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three ¹⁵  eunuchs looked down at him.

2 Kings 10:1

Jehu Wipes Out Ahab’s Family

10:1 Ahab had seventy sons living in Samaria. ¹⁶  So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the leading officials of Jezreel and to the guardians of Ahab’s dynasty. This is what the letters said, ¹⁷ 

2 Kings 10:7

10:7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. ¹⁸  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

2 Kings 16:9

16:9 The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request; ¹⁹  he ²⁰  attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people ²¹  to Kir and executed Rezin.

2 Kings 18:18

18:18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.

2 Kings 19:9

19:9 The king ²²  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. ²³  He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

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:

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “What was the manner…?”

[1:11]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:11]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[1:15]  ⁵ sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.

[6:8]  ⁷ tc The verb form used here is difficult to analyze. On the basis of the form נְחִתִּים (nÿkhitim) in v. 9 from the root נָחַת (nakhat), it is probably best to emend the verb to תִּנְחְתוּ (tinkhÿtu; a Qal imperfect form from the same root). The verb נָחַת in at least two other instances carries the nuance “go down, descend” in a military context. For a defense of this view, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 72.

[6:8]  ⁸ sn The advisers would have mentioned a specific location, but the details are not significant to the narrator’s purpose, so he simply paraphrases here.

[6:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they came down to him.”

[6:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “this nation,” perhaps emphasizing the strength of the Syrian army.

[6:18]  ¹¹ tn On the basis of the Akkadian etymology of the word, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 74) translate “blinding light.” HALOT 761 s.v. סַנְוֵרִים suggests the glosses “dazzling, deception.”

[6:18]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha.”

[9:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “So he said, ‘Like this and like this he said to me, saying.’” The words “like this and like this” are probably not a direct quote of Jehu’s words to his colleagues. Rather this is the narrator’s way of avoiding repetition and indicating that Jehu repeated, or at least summarized, what the prophet had said to him.

[9:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “two, three.” The narrator may be intentionally vague or uncertain here, or the two numbers may represent alternate traditions.

[10:1]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[10:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to the officers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab, saying.” It is not certain why the officials of Jezreel would be in Samaria. They may have fled there after they heard what happened to Joram and before Jehu entered the city. They would have had time to flee while Jehu was pursuing Ahaziah.

[10:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”

[16:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “listened to him.”

[16:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the king of Assyria.”

[16:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “it.”

[19:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:9]  ²² tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘Look, he has come out to fight with you.’”