2 Kings 1:9-10

1:9 The king ¹  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ²  to retrieve Elijah. ³  The captain ⁴  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ⁵  He told him, “Prophet, ⁶  the king says, ‘Come down!’” 1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ⁷  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ⁸  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

2 Kings 4:13

4:13 Elisha said to Gehazi, ⁹  “Tell her, ‘Look, you have treated us with such great respect. ¹⁰  What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I’m quite secure.” ¹¹ 

2 Kings 5:1

Elisha Heals a Syrian General

5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, ¹²  for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. ¹³ 

2 Kings 8:21

8:21 Joram ¹⁴  crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. ¹⁵  The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. ¹⁶ 

2 Kings 11:4

11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned ¹⁷  the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians ¹⁸  and the royal bodyguard. ¹⁹  He met with them ²⁰  in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement ²¹  with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.

2 Kings 11:9

11:9 The officers of the units of hundreds did just as ²²  Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath, and reported ²³  to Jehoiada the priest.

2 Kings 11:14-15

11:14 Then she saw ²⁴  the king standing by the pillar, according to custom. The officers stood beside the king with their trumpets and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason, treason!” ²⁵  11:15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, ²⁶  “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. ²⁷  Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple. ²⁸ 

2 Kings 11:19

11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ²⁹  and the king ³⁰  sat down on the royal throne.

2 Kings 24:12

24:12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered ³¹  to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, ³²  took Jehoiachin ³³  prisoner.

2 Kings 24:14

24:14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁵ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[1:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Wordplay contributes to the irony here. The king tells Elijah to “come down” (Hebrew יָרַד, yarad), but Elijah calls fire down (יָרַד) on the arrogant king’s officer.

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he said to him.”

[4:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you have turned trembling to us with all this trembling.” The exaggerated language is probably idiomatic. The point seems to be that she has taken great pains or gone out of her way to be kind to them. Her concern was a sign of her respect for the prophetic office.

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Among my people I am living.” This answer suggests that she has security within the context of her family.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”

[5:1]  ²⁰ tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (mÿtsora’), traditionally translated “leprous,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 63. Naaman probably had a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.

[8:21]  ²⁵ sn Joram is a short form of the name Jehoram.

[8:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Joram was surrounded and launched a victorious night counterattack. It would then be quite natural to understand the last statement in the verse to refer to an Edomite retreat. Yet v. 22 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. Therefore, if the MT is retained, it may be better to understand the final statement in v. 21 as a reference to an Israelite retreat (made in spite of the success described in the preceding sentence). The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֶתוֹ [’eto], “him,” instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. There is, however, no evidence for this emendation.

[8:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the people fled to their tents.”

[11:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”

[11:4]  ³² sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.

[11:4]  ³³ tn Heb “the runners.”

[11:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”

[11:4]  ³⁵ tn Or “covenant.”

[11:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “according to all that.”

[11:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “came.”

[11:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and she saw, and look.”

[11:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “conspiracy, conspiracy.”

[11:15]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew text also has, “and said to them.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[11:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “ranks.”

[11:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “for the priest had said, ‘Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord.’”

[11:19]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

[11:19]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:12]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “came out.”

[24:12]  ⁶² sn That is, the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, 597 b.c.

[24:12]  ⁶³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.