2 Kings 8:5

8:5 While Gehazi ¹  was telling the king how Elisha ²  had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. ³  Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”

2 Kings 14:9

14:9 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ⁴  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ⁵ 

2 Kings 23:8

23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ⁶  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ⁷  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ⁸  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

[8:5]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:5]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:5]  ³ tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”

[14:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “the animal of the field.”

[14:9]  ⁵ sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).

[23:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”

[23:8]  ⁸ sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.

[23:8]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.