2 Kings 3:25

3:25 They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. ¹  They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree.

Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, ²  but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

2 Kings 6:15

6:15 The prophet’s ³  attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, ⁴  “Oh no, my master! What will we do?”

2 Kings 8:21

8:21 Joram ⁵  crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. ⁶  The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. ⁷ 

2 Kings 9:18-19

9:18 So the horseman ⁸  went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” ⁹  Jehu replied, “None of your business! ¹⁰  Follow me.” The watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but hasn’t started back.” 9:19 So he sent a second horseman out to them ¹¹  and he said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” ¹²  Jehu replied, “None of your business! Follow me.”

2 Kings 23:34

23:34 Pharaoh Necho made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in Josiah’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died. ¹³ 

[3:25]  ¹ tn Heb “and [on] every good portion they were throwing each man his stone and they filled it.” The vav + perfect (“and they filled”) here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause (where a customary imperfect is used, “they were throwing”). See the note at 3:4.

[3:25]  ² tn Heb “until he had allowed its stones to remain in Kir Hareseth.”

[6:15]  ³ tn Heb “man of God’s.”

[6:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “his young servant said to him.”

[8:21]  ⁵ sn Joram is a short form of the name Jehoram.

[8:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Joram was surrounded and launched a victorious night counterattack. It would then be quite natural to understand the last statement in the verse to refer to an Edomite retreat. Yet v. 22 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. Therefore, if the MT is retained, it may be better to understand the final statement in v. 21 as a reference to an Israelite retreat (made in spite of the success described in the preceding sentence). The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֶתוֹ [’eto], “him,” instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. There is, however, no evidence for this emendation.

[8:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the people fled to their tents.”

[9:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “the rider of the horse.”

[9:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

[9:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “What concerning you and concerning peace?” That is, “What concern is that to you?”

[9:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he came to them.”

[9:19]  ¹⁰ tc The MT has simply “peace,” omitting the prefixed interrogative particle. It is likely that the particle has been accidentally omitted; several ancient witnesses include it or assume its presence.

[23:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he took Jehoahaz, and he came to Egypt and he died there.”