2 Kings 13:23

13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ¹  He extended his favor to them ²  because of the promise he had made ³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ⁴ 

2 Kings 17:15

17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ⁵  They paid allegiance to ⁶  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ⁷  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁸ 

2 Kings 18:12

18:12 This happened because they did not obey ⁹  the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. ¹⁰  They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. ¹¹ 

[13:23]  ¹ tn Or “showed them compassion.”

[13:23]  ² tn Heb “he turned to them.”

[13:23]  ³ tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”

[13:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “until now.”

[17:15]  ⁵ tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”

[17:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “They went [or, ‘followed’] after.” This idiom probably does not mean much if translated literally. It is found most often in Deuteronomy or in literature related to the covenant. It refers in the first instance to loyalty to God and to His covenant or His commandments (1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).

[17:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the Lord” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing”, which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.

[17:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the Lord commanded them not to do like them.”

[18:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”

[18:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his covenant.”

[18:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded, and they did not listen and they did not act.”