2 Kings 2:16

2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord ¹  may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha ²  replied, “Don’t send them out.”

2 Kings 25:25

25:25 But in the seventh month ³  Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, ⁴  came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, ⁵  as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

[2:16]  ¹ tn Or “the spirit of the Lord.”

[2:16]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:25]  ³ sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).

[25:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”

[25:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”