2 Kings 15:37

15:37 In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah. ¹ 

2 Kings 15:2

15:2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. ²  His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem.

2 Kings 1:5-15

1:5 When the messengers returned to the king, ³  he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 1:6 They replied, ⁴  “A man came up to meet us. He told us, “Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. ⁵  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’” 1:7 The king ⁶  asked them, “Describe the appearance ⁷  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.” 1:8 They replied, ⁸  “He was a hairy man ⁹  and had a leather belt ¹⁰  tied around his waist.” The king ¹¹  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

1:9 The king ¹²  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ¹³  to retrieve Elijah. ¹⁴  The captain ¹⁵  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ¹⁶  He told him, “Prophet, ¹⁷  the king says, ‘Come down!’” 1:10 Elijah replied to the captain, ¹⁸  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ¹⁹  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

1:11 The king ²⁰  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ²¹  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ²²  1:12 Elijah replied to them, ²³  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ²⁴  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

1:13 The king ²⁵  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ²⁶  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 1:14 Indeed, ²⁷  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ²⁸  So now, please have respect for my life.” 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 ²⁹  with him to the king.

Isaiah 7:1-9

Ahaz Receives a Sign

7:1 During ³⁰  the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel marched up to Jerusalem ³¹  to do battle, but they were unable to prevail against it. ³² 

7:2 It was reported to the family ³³  of David, “Syria has allied with ³⁴  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ³⁵  7:3 So the Lord told Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub ³⁶  and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ³⁷  7:4 Tell him, ‘Make sure you stay calm! ³⁸  Don’t be afraid! Don’t be intimidated ³⁹  by these two stubs of smoking logs, ⁴⁰  or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 7:5 Syria has plotted with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah to bring about your demise. ⁴¹  7:6 They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ⁴²  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ⁴³  7:7 For this reason the sovereign master, ⁴⁴  the Lord, says:

“It will not take place;

it will not happen.

7:8 For Syria’s leader is Damascus,

and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation. ⁴⁵ 

7:9 Ephraim’s leader is Samaria,

and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah.

If your faith does not remain firm,

then you will not remain secure.” ⁴⁶ 

[15:37]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin…and Pekahiah….”

[15:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are sending to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question. In v. 3 the messengers are addressed (in the phrase “you are on your way” the second person plural pronoun is used in Hebrew), but here the king is addressed (in the phrase “you are sending” the second person singular pronoun is used).

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “an owner of hair.” This idiomatic expression indicates that Elijah was very hairy. For other examples where the idiom “owner of” is used to describe a characteristic of someone, see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל. For example, an “owner of dreams” is one who frequently has dreams (Gen 37:19) and an “owner of anger” is a hot-tempered individual (Prov 22:24).

[1:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁶ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[1:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”

[1:10]  ¹⁹ 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.

[1:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:11]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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.

[1:12]  ²³ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”

[1:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “intense fire.” The divine name may be used idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the fire. Whether one translates אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) here as a proper name or idiomatically, this addition to the narrative (the name is omitted in the first panel, v. 10b) emphasizes the severity of the judgment and is appropriate given the more intense command delivered by the king to the prophet in this panel.

[1:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”

[1:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “look.”

[1:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “their fifty.”

[1:15]  ²⁹ 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.

[7:1]  ³⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:1]  ³¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:1]  ³² tn Or perhaps, “but they were unable to attack it.” This statement sounds like a summary of the whole campaign. The following context explains why they were unable to defeat the southern kingdom. The parallel passage (2 Kgs 16:5; cf. Num 22:11; 1 Sam 17:9 for a similar construction) affirms that Syria and Israel besieged Ahaz. Consequently, the statement that “they were not able to battle against them” must refer to the inability to conquer Ahaz.

[7:2]  ³³ tn Heb “house.” In this context the “house of David” includes King Ahaz, his family, and the royal court. See also Jer 21:12; Zech 12:7-8, 10, 12, for a similar use of the phrase.

[7:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “rests upon.” Most understand the verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”), but HALOT 685 s.v. II נחה proposes that this is a hapax legomenon which means “stand by.”

[7:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and his heart shook and the heart of his people shook, like the shaking of the trees of the forest before the wind.” The singular pronoun “his” is collective, referring to the Davidic house/family. לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the seat of the emotions.

[7:3]  ³⁶ tn The name means “a remnant will return.” Perhaps in this context, where the Lord is trying to encourage Ahaz, the name suggests that only a few of the enemy invaders will return home; the rest will be defeated.

[7:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “the Washerman’s Field.”

[7:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “guard yourself and be quiet,” but the two verbs should be coordinated.

[7:4]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and let not your heart be weak”; ASV “neither let thy heart be faint.”

[7:4]  ⁴⁰ sn The derogatory metaphor indicates that the power of Rezin and Pekah is ready to die out.

[7:5]  ⁴¹ tn This sentence opens with the conjunction יַעַן כִּי (ya’an ki, “because”). Consequently some take vv. 5-6 with what precedes, as another reason why Ahaz might be tempted to fear (see v. 4). However, it is more likely that vv. 5-6 give the basis for the Lord’s announcement in vv. 7-9. The conjunction יַעַן כִּי here introduces the basis for judgment (as in 3:16; 8:6; 29:13), which is then followed by the formal announcement of judgment.

[7:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “and let us break it open for ourselves”; NASB “make for ourselves a breach in its walls”; NLT “fight our way into.”

[7:6]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and we will make the son of Tabeel king in its midst.”

[7:7]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 14, 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[7:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Ephraim will be too shattered to be a nation”; NIV “to be a people.”

[7:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “if you do not believe, you will not endure.” The verb forms are second plural; the Lord here addresses the entire Davidic family and court. (Verse 4 was addressed to the king.) There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text, designed to draw attention to the alternatives set before the king (cf. 1:20). “Believe” (תַאֳמִינוּ, ta’aminu) is a Hiphil form of the verb אָמָן (’aman); “endure” (תֵאָמֵנוּ, te’amenu) is a Niphal form of this same verb.