2 Kings 8:21

8:21 Joram ¹  crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. ²  The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. ³ 

2 Kings 9:21

9:21 Jehoram ordered, “Hitch up my chariot.” ⁴  When his chariot had been hitched up, ⁵  King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out in their respective chariots ⁶  to meet Jehu. They met up with him ⁷  in the plot of land that had once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.

2 Kings 19:23

19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ⁸ 

‘With my many chariots ⁹ 

I climbed up the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars,

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ¹⁰ 

its thickest woods.

[8:21]  ¹ sn Joram is a short form of the name Jehoram.

[8:21]  ² tn Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Joram was surrounded and launched a victorious night counterattack. It would then be quite natural to understand the last statement in the verse to refer to an Edomite retreat. Yet v. 22 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. Therefore, if the MT is retained, it may be better to understand the final statement in v. 21 as a reference to an Israelite retreat (made in spite of the success described in the preceding sentence). The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֶתוֹ [’eto], “him,” instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. There is, however, no evidence for this emendation.

[8:21]  ³ tn Heb “and the people fled to their tents.”

[9:21]  ⁴ tn The words “my chariot” are added for clarification.

[9:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he hitched up his chariot.”

[9:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “each in his chariot and they went out.”

[9:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “they found him.”

[19:23]  ⁷ tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”

[19:23]  ⁸ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּרֶכֶב (bÿrekhev), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [rikhbi], “my chariots”). The marginal reading (Qere) בְּרֹב (bÿrov), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew mss and ancient versions, as well as the parallel passage in Isa 37:24.

[19:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”