2 Kings 22:1-2

Josiah Repents

22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. 22:2 He did what the Lord approved ³  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ⁴  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

2 Kings 23:15-18

23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel ⁵  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ⁶  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ⁷  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; ⁸  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 ⁹  turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this. ¹⁰  23:17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet ¹¹  who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.” 23:18 The king ¹²  said, “Leave it alone! No one must touch his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, as well as the bones of the Israelite prophet buried beside him. ¹³ 

2 Kings 23:2

23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud ¹⁴  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple.

2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 1:4-7

1:4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

1:5 When the messengers returned to the king, ¹⁶  he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 1:6 They replied, ¹⁷  “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. ¹⁸  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’” 1:7 The king ¹⁹  asked them, “Describe the appearance ²⁰  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.”

Isaiah 42:9

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ²¹ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ²² 

Isaiah 44:26-28

44:26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants ²³ 

and brings to pass the announcements ²⁴  of his messengers,

who says about Jerusalem, ²⁵  ‘She will be inhabited,’

and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt,

her ruins I will raise up,’

44:27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry!

I will dry up your sea currents,’

44:28 who commissions ²⁶  Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd ²⁷ 

to carry out all my wishes ²⁸ 

and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’

and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” ²⁹ 

Isaiah 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ³⁰  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Isaiah 48:5-7

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ³¹ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ³² 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ³³ 

48:7 Now they come into being, ³⁴  not in the past;

before today you did not hear about them,

so you could not say,

‘Yes, ³⁵  I know about them.’

[22:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[22:2]  ³ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[22:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

[23:15]  ⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[23:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.

[23:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

[23:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”

[23:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[23:16]  ¹⁰ 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).

[23:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “man of God.”

[23:18]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they left undisturbed his bones, the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.” If the phrase “the bones of the prophet” were appositional to “his bones,” one would expect the sentence to end “from Judah” (see v. 17). Apparently the “prophet” referred to in the second half of the verse is the old prophet from Bethel who buried the man of God from Judah in his own tomb and instructed his sons to bury his bones there as well (1 Kgs 13:30-31). One expects the text to read “from Bethel,” but “Samaria” (which was not even built at the time of the incident recorded in 1 Kgs 13) is probably an anachronistic reference to the northern kingdom in general. See the note at 1 Kgs 13:32 and the discussion in M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 290.

[23:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “read in their ears.”

[1:1]  ¹⁵ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “What was the manner…?”

[42:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”

[42:9]  ²² tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

[44:26]  ²³ tn Heb “the word of his servant.” The following context indicates that the Lord’s prophets are in view.

[44:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “counsel.” The Hebrew term עֵצָה (’etsah) probably refers here to the divine plan as announced by the prophets. See HALOT 867 s.v. I עֵצָה.

[44:26]  ²⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[44:28]  ²⁶ tn Heb “says to.” It is possible that the sentence is not completed, as the description of Cyrus and his God-given role is developed in the rest of the verse. 45:1 picks up where 44:28a leaves off with the Lord’s actual words to Cyrus finally being quoted in 45:2.

[44:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “my shepherd.” The shepherd motif is sometimes applied, as here, to a royal figure who is responsible for the well-being of the people whom he rules.

[44:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “that he might bring to completion all my desire.”

[44:28]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and [concerning the] temple, you will be founded.” The preposition -לְ (lÿ) is understood by ellipsis at the beginning of the second line. The verb תִּוָּסֵד (tivvased, “you will be founded”) is second masculine singular and is probably addressed to the personified temple (הֵיכָל [hekhal, “temple”] is masculine).

[46:10]  ³⁰ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[48:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ³² tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ³³ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[48:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”

[48:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”