2 Kings 13:20-25

13:20 Elisha died and was buried. ¹  Moabite raiding parties invaded ²  the land at the beginning of the year. ³  13:21 One day some men ⁴  were burying a man when they spotted ⁵  a raiding party. So they threw the dead man ⁶  into Elisha’s tomb. When the body ⁷  touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man ⁸  came to life and stood on his feet.

13:22 Now King Hazael of Syria oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz’s reign. ⁹  13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ¹⁰  He extended his favor to them ¹¹  because of the promise he had made ¹²  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ¹³  13:24 When King Hazael of Syria died, his son Ben Hadad replaced him as king. 13:25 Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash took back from ¹⁴  Ben Hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Joash defeated him three times and recovered the Israelite cities.

[13:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and they buried him.”

[13:20]  ² tn Heb “entered.”

[13:20]  ³ tc The MT reading בָּא שָׁנָה (ba’ shanah), “it came, year,” should probably be emended to בְּבָּא הַשָּׁנָה (bÿba’ hashanah), “at the coming [i.e., ‘beginning’] of the year.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 148.

[13:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it so happened [that] they.”

[13:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and look, they saw.”

[13:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “the man”; the adjective “dead” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[13:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “the man.”

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the dead man) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Otherwise the reader might think it was Elisha rather than the unnamed dead man who came back to life.

[13:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the days of Jehoahaz.”

[13:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “showed them compassion.”

[13:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he turned to them.”

[13:23]  ¹² tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”

[13:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “until now.”

[13:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the hand of.”