2 Kings 3:11

3:11 Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?” ¹  One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” ² 

2 Kings 3:1

Moab Fights with Israel

3:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahab’s son Jehoram became king over Israel in Samaria; ³  he ruled for twelve years.

2 Kings 22:7-8

22:7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.” ⁴ 

22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.

2 Kings 22:1

Josiah Repents

22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ⁵  His mother ⁶  was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath.

2 Kings 10:13-14

10:13 Jehu encountered ⁷  the relatives ⁸  of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are Ahaziah’s relatives. We have come down to see how ⁹  the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons are doing.” 10:14 He said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and then executed all forty-two of them in the cistern at Beth Eked. He left no survivors.

Psalms 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ¹⁰ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 3:6

3:6 Acknowledge ¹²  him in all your ways, ¹³ 

and he will make your paths straight. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 21:1-2

The Lord Will Hand Jerusalem over to Enemies

21:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah ¹⁵  when King Zedekiah ¹⁶  sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. ¹⁷  Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask, ¹⁸  21:2 “Please ask the Lord to come and help us, ¹⁹  because King Nebuchadnezzar ²⁰  of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will perform one of his miracles as in times past and make him stop attacking us and leave.” ²¹ 

Jeremiah 37:17

37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, ²²  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, ²³  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ²⁴ 

Ezekiel 14:3-4

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ²⁵  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²⁶  me? 14:4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. ²⁷ 

Ezekiel 20:1-3

Israel’s Rebellion

20:1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, ²⁸  some of the elders ²⁹  of Israel came to seek ³⁰  the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 20:2 The word of the Lord came to me: 20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ³¹  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Amos 3:7

3:7 Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “that we might inquire of the Lord through him?”

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.

[3:1]  ³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[22:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”

[22:1]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[10:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “found.”

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Or “brothers.”

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “for the peace of.”

[25:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “know him.” The verb יָדַע (yadah, “to know”) includes mental awareness of who God is and the consequential submission to his lordship. To know him is to obey him. The sage is calling for a life of trust and obedience in which the disciple sees the Lord in every event and relies on him. To acknowledge the Lord in every event means trusting and obeying him for guidance in right conduct.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn The term דֶרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is figurative (hypocatastasis: implied comparison) referring to a person’s course of life, actions and undertakings (Prov 2:8; 3:6, 23; 11:5; 20:24; 29:27; 31:3; BDB 203 s.v. 5; cf. TEV “in everything you do”; NCV, NLT “in all you do”). This is a call for total commitment in trust for obedience in all things.

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn The verb יָשָׁר (yashar) means “to make smooth; to make straight” (BDB 444 s.v.). This phrase means “to make the way free from obstacles,” that is, to make it successful (e.g., Isa 40:3). The straight, even road is the right road; God will make the way smooth for the believer.

[21:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord.”

[21:1]  ¹⁶ sn Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. He ruled from 597 b.c. when he was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs 24:17) until the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c. He acquiesced to some of his anti-Babylonian counselors, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and sought help from the Egyptians (Ezek 17:12-15). This brought Nebuchadnezzar against the city in 588 b.c. This is the first of two delegations to Jeremiah. The later one was sent after Nebuchadnezzar withdrew to take care of the Egyptian threat (cf. Jer 37:1-9).

[21:1]  ¹⁷ sn The Pashhur son of Malkijah referred to here is not the same as the Pashhur referred to in 20:1-6 who was the son of Immer. This Pashhur is referred to later in 38:1. The Zephaniah referred to here was the chief of security referred to later in Jer 29:25-26. He appears to have been favorably disposed toward Jeremiah.

[21:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sent to him…Maaseiah, saying,….”

[21:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb used here is often used of seeking information through a prophet (e.g., 2 Kgs 1:16; 8:8) and hence many translate “inquire of the Lord for us.” However, it is obvious from the following that they were not seeking information but help. The word is also used for that in Pss 34:4 (34:5 HT); 77:2 (77:3 HT).

[21:2]  ²⁰ tn The dominant spelling of this name is actually Nebuchadrezzar which is closer to his Babylonian name Nebu kudduri uzzur. An alternate spelling which is found 6 times in the book of Jeremiah and 17 times elsewhere is Nebuchadnezzar which is the form of the name that is usually used in English versions.

[21:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “Perhaps the Lord will do according to his miracles that he may go up from against us.”

[37:17]  ²² tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”

[37:17]  ²³ tn Heb “Then he said.”

[37:17]  ²⁴ sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)

[14:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[14:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in accordance with the multitude of his idols.”

[20:1]  ²⁸ sn The date would be August 14th, 591 b.c. The seventh year is the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile.

[20:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “men from the elders.”

[20:1]  ³⁰ tn See the note at 14:3.

[20:3]  ³¹ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”