2 Kings 5:1

Elisha Heals a Syrian General

5:1 Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, ¹  for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. ² 

2 Kings 5:5

5:5 The king of Syria said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman ³  went, taking with him ten talents ⁴  of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ⁵  and ten suits of clothes.

2 Kings 6:11

6:11 This made the king of Syria upset. ⁶  So he summoned his advisers ⁷  and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.” ⁸ 

2 Kings 7:4

7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, ⁹  and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect ¹⁰  to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, ¹¹  we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.” ¹² 

2 Kings 7:6

7:6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!”

2 Kings 7:10

7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers ¹³  of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. ¹⁴  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 8:9

8:9 So Hazael went to visit Elisha. ¹⁶  He took along a gift, ¹⁷  as well as ¹⁸  forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, “Your son, ¹⁹  King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question, ²⁰  ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

2 Kings 8:13

8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?” ²¹  Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.” ²² 

2 Kings 9:14-15

9:14 Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.

Jehu the Assassin

Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army, ²³  guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria. 9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ²⁴  when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. ²⁵  Jehu told his supporters, ²⁶  “If you really want me to be king, ²⁷  then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”

2 Kings 13:7

13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ²⁸  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ²⁹  and trampled on them like dust. ³⁰ 

2 Kings 13:17

13:17 Elisha ³¹  said, “Open the east window,” and he did so. ³²  Elisha said, “Shoot!” and

he did so. ³³  Elisha ³⁴  said, “This arrow symbolizes the victory the Lord will give you over Syria. ³⁵  You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!” ³⁶ 

2 Kings 16:6-7

16:6 (At that time King Rezin of Syria ³⁷  recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there. ³⁸  Syrians ³⁹  arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.) 16:7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. ⁴⁰  March up and rescue me from the power ⁴¹  of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked ⁴²  me.”

2 Kings 24:2

24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. ⁴³ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “was a great man before his master and lifted up with respect to the face.”

[5:1]  ² tn For a discussion of מְצֹרָע (mÿtsora’), traditionally translated “leprous,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 63. Naaman probably had a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 750 pounds of silver (cf. NCV, NLT, CEV).

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “six thousand gold […].” The unit of measure is not given in the Hebrew text. A number of English versions supply “pieces” (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, TEV) or “shekels” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[6:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the heart of the king of Syria was stirred up over this thing.”

[6:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “servants.”

[6:11]  ⁷ 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.

[7:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[7:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “keep us alive.”

[7:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.

[7:10]  ⁹ tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

[7:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”

[8:9]  ¹⁴ sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.

[8:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “saying.”

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.

[8:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”

[9:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he and all Israel.”

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”

[9:15]  ¹⁸ sn See 2 Kgs 8:28-29a.

[9:15]  ¹⁹ tn The words “his supporters” are added for clarification.

[9:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “If this is your desire.” נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers here to the seat of the emotions and will. For other examples of this use of the word, see BDB 660-61 s.v.

[13:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.

[13:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

[13:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

[13:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:17]  ²² tn Heb “He opened [it].”

[13:17]  ²³ tn Heb “and he shot.”

[13:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “The arrow of victory of the Lord and the arrow of victory over Syria.”

[13:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you will strike down Syria in Aphek until destruction.”

[16:6]  ²³ tc Some prefer to read “the king of Edom” and “for Edom” here. The names Syria (Heb “Aram,” אֲרָם, ’aram) and Edom (אֱדֹם, ’edom) are easily confused in the Hebrew consonantal script.

[16:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from Elat.”

[16:6]  ²⁵ tc The consonantal text (Kethib), supported by many medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac version, and some mss of the Targum and Vulgate, read “Syrians” (Heb “Arameans”). The marginal reading (Qere), supported by the LXX, Targums, and Vulgate, reads “Edomites.”

[16:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “son.” Both terms (“servant” and “son”) reflect Ahaz’s subordinate position as Tiglath-pileser’s subject.

[16:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “hand, palm.”

[16:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who have arisen against.”

[24:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.”