2 Kings 7:6-18

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!” 7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 7:8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. ¹  They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. ²  Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it ³  and went and hid what they had taken. 7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone. ⁴  If we wait until dawn, ⁵  we’ll be punished. ⁶  So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers ⁷  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. ⁸  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” ⁹  7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace. ¹⁰ 

7:12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, ¹¹  “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 7:13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!) ¹²  Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.” ¹³  7:14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army. ¹⁴  He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.” ¹⁵  7:15 So they tracked them ¹⁶  as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. ¹⁷  The scouts ¹⁸  went back and told the king. 7:16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah ¹⁹  of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would. ²⁰ 

7:17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man ²¹  at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. ²²  This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him. ²³  7:18 The prophet told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”

2 Kings 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man ²⁴  responded to the prophet, ²⁵  “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ²⁶  Elisha ²⁷  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ²⁸ 

2 Kings 14:13-15

14:13 King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He ²⁹  attacked ³⁰  Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate – a distance of about six hundred feet. ³¹  14:14 He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some hostages. ³²  Then he went back to Samaria. ³³ 

( 14:15 The rest of the events of Jehoash’s ³⁴  reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ³⁵ 

2 Kings 20:1

Hezekiah is Healed

20:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. ³⁶  The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” ³⁷ 

Isaiah 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ³⁸ 

Ezekiel 39:9-10

39:9 “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and use the weapons for kindling ³⁹  – the shields, ⁴⁰  bows and arrows, war clubs and spears – they will burn them for seven years. 39:10 They will not need to take ⁴¹  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ⁴²  declares the sovereign Lord.

Ezekiel 39:17-20

39:17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter ⁴³  which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 39:18 You will eat the flesh of warriors ⁴⁴  and drink the blood of the princes of the earth – the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan. 39:19 You will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, ⁴⁵  at my slaughter ⁴⁶  which I have made for you. 39:20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, ⁴⁷  with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the sovereign Lord.

[7:8]  ¹ tn Heb “they ate and drank.”

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “and they hid [it].”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “and they took from there.”

[7:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”

[7:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the light of the morning.”

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “punishment will find us.”

[7:10]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

[7:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).

[7:13]  ¹² tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”

[7:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”

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

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Go and see.”

[7:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “went after.”

[7:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”

[7:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “messengers.”

[7:16]  ¹⁹ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[7:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”

[7:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”

[7:17]  ²² tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”

[7:17]  ²³ tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”

[7:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

[7:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “man of God.”

[7:2]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

[14:13]  ²⁹ tc The MT has the plural form of the verb, but the final vav (ו) is virtually dittographic. The word that immediately follows in the Hebrew text begins with a yod (י). The form should be emended to the singular, which is consistent in number with the verb (“he broke down”) that follows.

[14:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “came to.”

[14:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “four hundred cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.

[14:14]  ³² tn Heb “the sons of the pledges.”

[14:14]  ³³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[14:15]  ³⁴ sn Jehoash and Joash are alternate forms of the same name.

[14:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jehoash, and all which he did and his strength, [and] how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

[20:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”

[20:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “will not live.”

[23:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[39:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “burn and kindle the weapons.”

[39:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Two different types of shields are specified in the Hebrew text.

[39:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they will not carry.”

[39:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “loot their looters and plunder their plunderers.”

[39:17]  ⁴³ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:18]  ⁴⁴ sn See Rev 19:17-18.

[39:19]  ⁴⁵ sn Eating the fat and drinking blood were God’s exclusive rights in Israelite sacrifices (Lev 3:17).

[39:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:20]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “chariots.”