2 Kings 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man ¹  responded to the prophet, ²  “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ³  Elisha ⁴  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ⁵ 

2 Kings 7:19

7:19 But the officer replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ⁶  Elisha ⁷  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ⁸ 

2 Kings 23:16

23:16 When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought; ⁹  he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord’s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah ¹⁰  turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this. ¹¹ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “man of God.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.

[7:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

[23:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”

[23:16]  ¹² tn Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[23:16]  ¹³ tc The MT is much shorter than this. It reads, “according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” The LXX has a much longer text at this point. It reads: “[which was proclaimed by the man of God] while Jeroboam stood by the altar at a celebration. Then he turned and saw the grave of the man of God [who proclaimed these words].” The extra material attested in the LXX was probably accidentally omitted in the Hebrew tradition when a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the phrase “man of God” (which appears right before the extra material) and the second occurrence of the phrase (which appears at the end of the extra material).