2 Raja-raja 2:1-25
Konteks2:1 Just before 1 the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. 2:2 Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” 2 But Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 2:3 Some members of the prophetic guild 3 in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” 4 He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” 5 But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. 2:5 Some members of the prophetic guild in Jericho approached Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2:6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they traveled on together. 2:7 The fifty members of the prophetic guild went and stood opposite them at a distance, while Elijah and Elisha 6 stood by the Jordan. 2:8 Elijah took his cloak, folded it up, and hit the water with it. The water divided, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you, 7 before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.” 8 2:10 Elijah 9 replied, “That’s a difficult request! 10 If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”
2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot 11 pulled by fiery horses appeared. 12 They went between Elijah and Elisha, 13 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!” 14 Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two. 2:13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him, and went back and stood on the shore of the Jordan. 2:14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah, 15 hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.
2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, 16 who were standing at a distance, 17 saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah 18 rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. 2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord 19 may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha 20 replied, “Don’t send them out.” 2:17 But they were so insistent, he became embarrassed. So he said, “Send them out.” They sent the fifty men out and they looked for three days, but could not find Elijah. 21 2:18 When they came back, Elisha 22 was staying in Jericho. He said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go’?”
2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our 23 master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.” 24 2:20 Elisha 25 said, “Get me a new jar and put some salt in it.” So they got it. 2:21 He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have purified 26 this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.” 27 2:22 The water has been pure to this very day, just as Elisha prophesied. 28
2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. 29 As he was traveling up the road, some young boys 30 came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. 31 Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces. 2:25 From there he traveled to Mount Carmel and then back to Samaria. 32
2 Raja-raja 4:1-44
Konteks4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets 33 appealed 34 to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. 35 Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” 4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.” 4:3 He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. 36 Get as many as you can. 37 4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; 38 set aside each one when you have filled it.” 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons, 39 “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 4:7 She went and told the prophet. 40 He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”
4:8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent 41 woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal. 42 So whenever he was passing through, he would stop in there for a meal. 43 4:9 She said to her husband, “Look, I’m sure 44 that the man who regularly passes through here is a very special prophet. 45 4:10 Let’s make a small private upper room 46 and furnish it with 47 a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay there.”
4:11 One day Elisha 48 came for a visit; he went 49 into the upper room and rested. 50 4:12 He told his servant Gehazi, “Ask the Shunammite woman to come here.” 51 So he did so and she came to him. 52 4:13 Elisha said to Gehazi, 53 “Tell her, ‘Look, you have treated us with such great respect. 54 What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I’m quite secure.” 55 4:14 So he asked Gehazi, 56 “What can I do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” 4:15 Elisha told him, “Ask her to come here.” 57 So he did so 58 and she came and stood in the doorway. 59 4:16 He said, “About this time next year 60 you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my master! O prophet, do not lie to your servant!” 4:17 The woman did conceive, and at the specified time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
4:18 The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with the harvest workers. 61 4:19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father 62 told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 4:20 So he picked him up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap 63 until noon and then died. 4:21 She went up and laid him down on the prophet’s 64 bed. She shut the door behind her and left. 4:22 She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet quickly and then return.” 4:23 He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon 65 or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.” 66 4:24 She saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Lead on. 67 Do not stop unless I say so.” 68
4:25 So she went to visit 69 the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he 70 saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman. 4:26 Now, run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you well? Are your husband and the boy well?’” She told Gehazi, 71 “Everything’s fine.” 4:27 But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset. 72 The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.” 4:28 She said, “Did I ask my master for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t mislead me?’” 4:29 Elisha 73 told Gehazi, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take my staff, 74 and go! Don’t stop to exchange greetings with anyone! 75 Place my staff on the child’s face.” 4:30 The mother of the child said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha 76 got up and followed her back.
4:31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha 77 he told him, “The child did not wake up.” 4:32 When Elisha arrived at the house, there was 78 the child lying dead on his bed. 4:33 He went in by himself and closed the door. 79 Then he prayed to the Lord. 4:34 He got up on the bed and spread his body out over 80 the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s 81 mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin 82 grew warm. 4:35 Elisha 83 went back and walked around in the house. 84 Then he got up on the bed again 85 and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 4:36 Elisha 86 called to Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman.” So he did so 87 and she came to him. He said to her, “Take your son.” 4:37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down. Then she picked up her son and left.
4:38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him 88 and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire 89 and boil some stew for the prophets.” 90 4:39 Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. 91 He picked some of its fruit, 92 enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices 93 into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful. 94 4:40 The stew was poured out 95 for the men to eat. When they ate some of the stew, they cried out, “Death is in the pot, O prophet!” They could not eat it. 4:41 He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.” 96 There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.
4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet 97 – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. 98 Elisha 99 said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.” 4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” 100 He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 101 4:44 So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as the Lord predicted. 102
[2:2] 2 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
[2:3] 3 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
[2:3] 4 tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.
[2:4] 5 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[2:7] 6 tn Heb “the two of them.” The referents (Elijah and Elisha) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:9] 7 tn Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”
[2:9] 8 tn Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”
[2:10] 9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:10] 10 tn Heb “You have made difficult [your] request.”
[2:11] 11 tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”
[2:11] 12 tn Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”
[2:11] 13 tn Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”
[2:12] 14 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.
[2:14] 15 tn Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13).
[2:15] 16 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[2:15] 17 tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”
[2:15] 18 tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”
[2:16] 19 tn Or “the spirit of the
[2:16] 20 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:17] 21 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:18] 22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:19] 24 tn Heb “miscarries” or “is barren.”
[2:20] 25 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:21] 27 tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”
[2:22] 28 tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.”
[2:23] 29 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
[2:23] 30 tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.
[2:24] 31 tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the
[2:25] 32 sn The two brief episodes recorded in vv. 19-25 demonstrate Elisha’s authority and prove that he is the legitimate prophetic heir of Elijah. He has the capacity to bring life and blessing to those who recognize his authority, or death and judgment to those who reject him.
[2:25] map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
[4:1] 33 tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”
[4:1] 35 tn Heb “your servant feared the
[4:3] 36 tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”
[4:3] 37 tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”
[4:4] 38 tn Heb “all these vessels.”
[4:7] 40 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).
[4:8] 41 tn Heb “great,” perhaps “wealthy.”
[4:8] 42 tn Or “she urged him to eat some food.”
[4:8] 43 tn Or “he would turn aside there to eat some food.”
[4:9] 45 tn Heb “holy man of God.”
[4:10] 46 tn Heb “a small upper room of a wall”; according to HALOT 832 s.v. עֲלִיָּה, this refers to “a fully walled upper room.”
[4:10] 47 tn Heb “and let’s put there for him.”
[4:11] 48 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:11] 49 tn Heb “turned aside.”
[4:11] 50 tn Or “slept there.”
[4:12] 51 tn Heb “Call for this Shunammite woman.”
[4:12] 52 tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood before him.”
[4:13] 53 tn Heb “he said to him.”
[4:13] 54 tn Heb “you have turned trembling to us with all this trembling.” The exaggerated language is probably idiomatic. The point seems to be that she has taken great pains or gone out of her way to be kind to them. Her concern was a sign of her respect for the prophetic office.
[4:13] 55 tn Heb “Among my people I am living.” This answer suggests that she has security within the context of her family.
[4:14] 56 tn Heb “and he said.”
[4:15] 57 tn Heb “Call for her.”
[4:15] 58 tn Heb “and he called her.”
[4:15] 59 tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood in the door.”
[4:16] 60 tn Heb “at this appointed time, at the time [when it is] reviving.” For a discussion of the second phrase see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.
[4:18] 61 tn Heb “to his father, to the harvesters.”
[4:19] 62 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the boy’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:21] 64 tn Heb “man of God’s.”
[4:23] 65 sn The new moon was a time of sacrifice and special feasts (Num 28:14; 1 Sam 20:5). Apparently it was a convenient time to visit a prophet. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.
[4:24] 67 tn Heb “lead [the donkey on] and go.”
[4:24] 68 tn Heb “do not restrain for me the riding unless I say to you.”
[4:25] 69 tn Heb “went and came.”
[4:25] 70 tn Heb “the man of God.” The phrase has been replaced by the relative pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[4:26] 71 tn Heb “she said.” The narrator streamlines the story at this point, omitting any reference to Gehazi running to meet her and asking her the questions.
[4:27] 72 tn Heb “her soul [i.e., ‘disposition’] is bitter.”
[4:29] 73 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:29] 74 tn Heb “take my staff in your hand.”
[4:29] 75 tn Heb “If you meet a man, do not greet him with a blessing; if a man greets you with a blessing, do not answer.”
[4:30] 76 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent must be Elisha here, since the following verse makes it clear that Gehazi had gone on ahead of them.
[4:31] 77 tn Heb “to meet him.”
[4:33] 79 tn Heb “and closed the door behind the two of them.”
[4:34] 80 tn Heb “he went up and lay down over.”
[4:34] 81 tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).
[4:34] 82 tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”
[4:35] 83 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:35] 84 tn Heb “and he returned and went into the house, once here and once there.”
[4:35] 85 tn Heb “and he went up.”
[4:36] 86 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:36] 87 tn Heb “and he called for her.”
[4:38] 88 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.”
[4:38] 89 tn The words “the fire” are added for clarification.
[4:38] 90 tn Heb “sons of the prophets.”
[4:39] 91 tn Heb “a vine of the field.”
[4:39] 92 tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”
[4:39] 93 tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”
[4:39] 94 tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
[4:40] 95 tn Heb “and they poured out [the stew].” The plural subject is probably indefinite.
[4:41] 96 tn Or “and let them eat.”
[4:42] 97 tn Heb “man of God.”
[4:42] 98 tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
[4:42] 99 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:43] 100 tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
[4:43] 101 tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.
