2 Kings 7:14

7:14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army. ¹  He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.” ² 

2 Kings 2:11-12

2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot ³  pulled by fiery horses appeared. ⁴  They went between Elijah and Elisha, ⁵  and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm. 2:12 While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” ⁶  Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two.

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 9:17-19

9:17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s troops approaching. ⁷  He said, “I see troops!” ⁸  Jehoram ordered, ⁹  “Send a rider out to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is everything all right?’” ¹⁰  9:18 So the horseman ¹¹  went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” ¹²  Jehu replied, “None of your business! ¹³  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 ¹⁴  and he said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” ¹⁵  Jehu replied, “None of your business! Follow me.”

2 Kings 10:23

10:23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went to the temple of Baal. Jehu ¹⁶  said to the servants of Baal, “Make sure there are no servants of the Lord here with you; there must be only servants of Baal.” ¹⁷ 

2 Kings 13:7

13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ¹⁸  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ¹⁹  and trampled on them like dust. ²⁰ 

2 Kings 13:14

Elisha Makes One Final Prophecy

13:14 Now Elisha had a terminal illness. ²¹  King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. ²²  He wept before him and said, “My father, my father! The chariot ²³  and horsemen of Israel!” ²⁴ 

2 Kings 10:15

10:15 When he left there, he met ²⁵  Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him. ²⁶  Jehu greeted him and asked, ²⁷  “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?” ²⁸  Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.” ²⁹  So he offered his hand and Jehu ³⁰  pulled him up into the chariot.

[7:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”

[7:14]  ² tn Heb “Go and see.”

[2:11]  ³ tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”

[2:12]  ⁵ sn Elisha may be referring to the fiery chariot(s) and horses as the Lord’s spiritual army that fights on behalf of Israel (see 2 Kgs 6:15-17; 7:6). However, the juxtaposition with “my father” (clearly a reference to Elijah as Elisha’s mentor), and the parallel in 2 Kgs 13:14 (where the king addresses Elisha with these words), suggest that Elisha is referring to Elijah. In this case Elijah is viewed as a one man army, as it were. When the Lord spoke through him, his prophetic word was as powerful as an army of chariots and horses. See M. A. Beek, “The Meaning of the Expression ‘The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel’ (II Kings ii 12),” The Witness of Tradition (OTS 17), 1-10.

[9:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “the quantity [of the men] of Jehu, when he approached.” Elsewhere שִׁפְעַה (shif’ah), “quantity,” is used of a quantity of camels (Isa 60:6) or horses (Ezek 26:10) and of an abundance of water (Job 22:11; 38:34).

[9:17]  ⁸ tn The term שִׁפְעַת (shifat) appears to be a construct form of the noun, but no genitive follows.

[9:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Get a rider and send [him] to meet him and let him ask, ‘Is there peace?’”

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

[9:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

[9:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “What concerning you and concerning peace?” That is, “What concern is that to you?”

[9:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he came to them.”

[9:19]  ¹² 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.

[10:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Search carefully and observe so that there are not here with you any servants of the Lord, only the servants of Baal.”

[13:7]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

[13:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

[13:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Now Elisha was ill with the illness by which he would die.”

[13:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “went down to him.”

[13:14]  ¹⁹ tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”

[13:14]  ²⁰ sn By comparing Elisha to a one-man army, the king emphasizes the power of the prophetic word. See the note at 2:12.

[10:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “found.”

[10:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab [who was coming] to meet him.”

[10:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he blessed him and said to him.”

[10:15]  ²² tn Heb “Is there with your heart [what is] right, as my heart [is] with your heart?”

[10:15]  ²³ tc Heb “Jehonadab said, ‘There is and there is. Give your hand.’” If the text is allowed to stand, there are two possible ways to understand the syntax of וָיֵשׁ (vayesh), “and there is”: (1) The repetition of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is and there is”) could be taken as emphatic, “indeed I am.” In this case, the entire statement could be taken as Jehonadab’s words or one could understand the words “give your hand” as Jehu’s. In the latter case the change in speakers is unmarked. (2) וָיֵשׁ begins Jehu’s response and has a conditional force, “if you are.” In this case, the transition in speakers is unmarked. However, it is possible that וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer), “and he said,” or וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא (vayyo’mer yehu), “and Jehu said,” originally appeared between יֵשׁ and וָיֵשׁ and has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note that both the proposed וַיֹּאמֶר and וָיֵשׁ begin with vav, ו). The present translation assumes such a textual reconstruction; it is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[10:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.