[4:39] 1 tn Heb “a vine of the field.”
[4:39] 2 tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”
[4:39] 3 tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”
[4:39] 4 tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.