2 Kings 25:18

25:18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.

2 Kings 25:1

25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ¹  it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ² 

2 Kings 6:4-14

6:4 So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they started cutting down trees. 6:5 As one of them was felling a log, the ax head ³  dropped into the water. He shouted, “Oh no, ⁴  my master! It was borrowed!” 6:6 The prophet ⁵  asked, “Where did it drop in?” When he showed him the spot, Elisha ⁶  cut off a branch, threw it in at that spot, and made the ax head float. 6:7 He said, “Lift it out.” So he reached out his hand and grabbed it.

Elisha Defeats an Army

6:8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade ⁷  at such and such ⁸  a place.” 6:9 But the prophet sent this message to the king of Israel, “Make sure you don’t pass through this place because Syria is invading there.” 6:10 So the king of Israel sent a message to the place the prophet had pointed out, warning it ⁹  to be on its guard. This happened on several occasions. ¹⁰  6:11 This made the king of Syria upset. ¹¹  So he summoned his advisers ¹²  and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.” ¹³  6:12 One of his advisers said, “No, my master, O king. The prophet Elisha who lives in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the things you say in your bedroom.” 6:13 The king ¹⁴  ordered, “Go, find out where he is, so I can send some men to capture him.” ¹⁵  The king was told, “He is in Dothan.” 6:14 So he sent horses and chariots there, along with a good-sized army. ¹⁶  They arrived during the night and surrounded the city.

2 Kings 9:11

9:11 When Jehu rejoined ¹⁷  his master’s servants, they ¹⁸  asked him, “Is everything all right? ¹⁹  Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” ²⁰ 

Nehemiah 11:11

11:11 Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, supervisor in the temple of God,

Jeremiah 52:24-27

52:24 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. ²¹  52:25 From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens ²²  for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city. 52:26 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 52:27 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed ²³  at Riblah in the territory of Hamath.

So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.

[25:1]  ¹ tn Or “against.”

[25:1]  ² sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

[6:5]  ³ tn Heb “iron.”

[6:5]  ⁴ tn Or “ah.”

[6:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “man of God” (also in v. 9).

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

[6:8]  ⁷ tc The verb form used here is difficult to analyze. On the basis of the form נְחִתִּים (nÿkhitim) in v. 9 from the root נָחַת (nakhat), it is probably best to emend the verb to תִּנְחְתוּ (tinkhÿtu; a Qal imperfect form from the same root). The verb נָחַת in at least two other instances carries the nuance “go down, descend” in a military context. For a defense of this view, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 72.

[6:8]  ⁸ sn The advisers would have mentioned a specific location, but the details are not significant to the narrator’s purpose, so he simply paraphrases here.

[6:10]  ⁹ tn The vav + perfect here indicates action contemporary with the preceding main verb (“sent”). See IBHS 533-34 §32.2.3e.

[6:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God spoke to him, and he warned it and he guarded himself there, not once and not twice.”

[6:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the heart of the king of Syria was stirred up over this thing.”

[6:11]  ¹² tn Heb “servants.”

[6:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “Will you not tell me who among us [is] for the king of Israel?” The sarcastic rhetorical question expresses the king’s suspicion.

[6:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he” (also a second time in this verse); the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Go and see where he [is] so I can send and take him.”

[6:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “heavy force.”

[9:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “went out to.”

[9:11]  ¹⁸ tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.

[9:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

[9:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.

[52:24]  ²¹ sn See the note at Jer 35:4.

[52:25]  ²² tn Heb “men, from the people of the land” (also later in this verse).

[52:27]  ²³ tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”