2 Kings 2:24

2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

2 Kings 5:12

5:12 The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! ²  Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry.

2 Kings 13:23

13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ³  He extended his favor to them ⁴  because of the promise he had made ⁵  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ⁶ 

2 Kings 23:16

23:16 When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought; ⁷  he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord’s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah ⁸  turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this. ⁹ 

[2:24]  ¹ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

[5:12]  ² tn Heb “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel?” The rhetorical question expects an emphatic “yes” as an answer.

[13:23]  ³ tn Or “showed them compassion.”

[13:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “he turned to them.”

[13:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of his covenant with.”

[13:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “until now.”

[23:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”

[23:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[23:16]  ⁶ tc The MT is much shorter than this. It reads, “according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” The LXX has a much longer text at this point. It reads: “[which was proclaimed by the man of God] while Jeroboam stood by the altar at a celebration. Then he turned and saw the grave of the man of God [who proclaimed these words].” The extra material attested in the LXX was probably accidentally omitted in the Hebrew tradition when a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the phrase “man of God” (which appears right before the extra material) and the second occurrence of the phrase (which appears at the end of the extra material).