2 Raja-raja 1:4

1:4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

2 Raja-raja 2:24

2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

2 Raja-raja 3:2

3:2 He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.

2 Raja-raja 3:12

3:12 Jehoshaphat said, “The Lord speaks through him.” ³  So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to visit him.

2 Raja-raja 3:17

3:17 for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel ⁴  any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’

2 Raja-raja 4:43

4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” ⁵  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.’” ⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 6:18

6:18 As they approached him, ⁷  Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people ⁸  with blindness.” ⁹  The Lord ¹⁰  struck them with blindness as Elisha requested. ¹¹ 

2 Raja-raja 7:16

7:16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah ¹²  of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would. ¹³ 

2 Raja-raja 8:10

8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’ ¹⁴  but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.”

2 Raja-raja 8:18-19

8:18 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. ¹⁵  He did evil in the sight of ¹⁶  the Lord. 8:19 But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of ¹⁷  his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty. ¹⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 8:27

8:27 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty and did evil in the sight of ¹⁹  the Lord, like Ahab’s dynasty, for he was related to Ahab’s family. ²⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 9:7

9:7 You will destroy the family of your master Ahab. ²¹  I will get revenge against Jezebel for the shed blood of my servants the prophets and for the shed blood of all the Lord’s servants. ²² 

2 Raja-raja 9:12

9:12 But they said, “You’re lying! Tell us what he said.” So he told them what he had said. He also related how he had said, ²³  “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have designated you as king over Israel.’”

2 Raja-raja 10:17

10:17 He went to Samaria and exterminated all the members of Ahab’s family who were still alive in Samaria, ²⁴  just as the Lord had announced to Elijah. ²⁵ 

2 Raja-raja 11:7

11:7 The two units who are off duty on the Sabbath will guard the Lord’s temple and protect the king. ²⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 11:10

11:10 The priest gave to the officers of the units of hundreds King David’s spears and the shields that were kept in the Lord’s temple.

2 Raja-raja 13:2-3

13:2 He did evil in the sight of ²⁷  the Lord. He continued in ²⁸  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins. ²⁹  13:3 The Lord was furious with ³⁰  Israel and handed them over to ³¹  King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael’s son Ben Hadad for many years. ³² 

2 Raja-raja 13:5

13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer ³³  for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. ³⁴  The Israelites once more lived in security. ³⁵ 

2 Raja-raja 13:11

13:11 He did evil in the sight of ³⁶  the Lord. He did not repudiate ³⁷  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin; he continued in those sins. ³⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 14:3

14:3 He did what the Lord approved, ³⁹  but not like David his father. He followed the example of his father Joash. ⁴⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 14:24

14:24 He did evil in the sight of ⁴¹  the Lord; he did not repudiate ⁴²  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

2 Raja-raja 14:26-27

14:26 The Lord saw Israel’s intense suffering; ⁴³  everyone was weak and incapacitated and Israel had no deliverer. ⁴⁴  14:27 The Lord had not decreed that he would blot out Israel’s memory ⁴⁵  from under heaven, ⁴⁶  so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.

2 Raja-raja 15:9

15:9 He did evil in the sight of ⁴⁷  the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not repudiate ⁴⁸  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

2 Raja-raja 15:12

15:12 His assassination brought to fulfillment the Lord’s word to Jehu, ⁴⁹  “Four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.” ⁵⁰  That is exactly what happened. ⁵¹ 

2 Raja-raja 15:18

15:18 He did evil in the sight of ⁵²  the Lord; he did not repudiate ⁵³  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. ⁵⁴ 

During his reign,

2 Raja-raja 15:24

15:24 He did evil in the sight of ⁵⁵  the Lord; he did not repudiate ⁵⁶  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

2 Raja-raja 15:28

15:28 He did evil in the sight of ⁵⁷  the Lord; he did not repudiate ⁵⁸  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

2 Raja-raja 15:35

15:35 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.

2 Raja-raja 15:37

15:37 In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah. ⁵⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 16:2-3

16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁶⁰  He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. ⁶¹  16:3 He followed in the footsteps of ⁶²  the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, ⁶³  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ⁶⁴  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

2 Raja-raja 16:18

16:18 He also removed the Sabbath awning ⁶⁵  that had been built ⁶⁶  in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria. ⁶⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 17:8

17:8 they observed the practices ⁶⁸  of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel. ⁶⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 17:17-20

17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, ⁷⁰  and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. ⁷¹ 

17:18 So the Lord was furious ⁷²  with Israel and rejected them; ⁷³  only the tribe of Judah was left. 17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. ⁷⁴  17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated ⁷⁵  them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.

2 Raja-raja 17:28

17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ⁷⁶  He taught them how to worship ⁷⁷  the Lord.

2 Raja-raja 17:33

17:33 They were worshiping ⁷⁸  the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

2 Raja-raja 17:35

17:35 The Lord made an agreement ⁷⁹  with them ⁸⁰  and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

2 Raja-raja 18:5

18:5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. ⁸¹ 

2 Raja-raja 18:16

18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated ⁸²  and gave them to the king of Assyria.

2 Raja-raja 18:35

18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁸³ 

2 Raja-raja 19:21

19:21 This is what the Lord says about him: ⁸⁴ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ⁸⁵ 

despises you, she makes fun of you;

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ⁸⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 20:3

20:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ⁸⁷  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ⁸⁸  and how I have carried out your will.” ⁸⁹  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁹⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 20:11

20:11 Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and the Lord ⁹¹  made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz. ⁹² 

2 Raja-raja 20:19

20:19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” ⁹³  Then he added, ⁹⁴  “At least there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.” ⁹⁵ 

2 Raja-raja 21:6

21:6 He passed his son ⁹⁶  through the fire ⁹⁷  and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. ⁹⁸  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁹⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 21:9

21:9 But they did not obey, ¹⁰⁰  and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

2 Raja-raja 21:12

21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. ¹⁰¹ 

2 Raja-raja 22:2-4

22:2 He did what the Lord approved ¹⁰²  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ¹⁰³  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: ¹⁰⁴  22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down ¹⁰⁵  the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door.

2 Raja-raja 22:15

22:15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me:

2 Raja-raja 23:7

23:7 He tore down the quarters ¹⁰⁶  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ¹⁰⁷  for Asherah.

2 Raja-raja 23:9

23:9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) ¹⁰⁸ 

2 Raja-raja 23:21

23:21 The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.”

2 Raja-raja 23:26

23:26 Yet the Lord’s great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done. ¹⁰⁹ 

2 Raja-raja 24:3-4

24:3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed. ¹¹⁰  24:4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. ¹¹¹ 

2 Raja-raja 24:20

24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. ¹¹²  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

2 Raja-raja 25:9

25:9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. ¹¹³ 

2 Raja-raja 25:16

25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple – including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” ¹¹⁴  and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed.

[2:24]  ¹ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is with him.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[4:43]  ⁵ tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”

[4:43]  ⁶ tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.

[6:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they came down to him.”

[6:18]  ⁸ tn Or “this nation,” perhaps emphasizing the strength of the Syrian army.

[6:18]  ⁹ tn On the basis of the Akkadian etymology of the word, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 74) translate “blinding light.” HALOT 761 s.v. סַנְוֵרִים suggests the glosses “dazzling, deception.”

[6:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha.”

[7:16]  ¹² sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[7:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”

[8:10]  ¹⁴ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “Go, say, ‘Surely you will not (לֹא, lo’) recover” In this case the vav beginning the next clause should be translated, “for, because.” The marginal reading (Qere) has, “Go, say to him (לוֹ, lo), ‘You will surely recover.” In this case the vav (ו) beginning the next clause should be translated, “although, but.” The Qere has the support of some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, and is consistent with v. 14, where Hazael tells the king, “You will surely recover.” It is possible that a scribe has changed לוֹ, “to him,” to לֹא, “not,” because he felt that Elisha would not lie to the king. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 90. Another possibility is that a scribe has decided to harmonize Elisha’s message with Hazael’s words in v. 14. But it is possible that Hazael, once he found out he would become the next king, decided to lie to the king to facilitate his assassination plot by making the king feel secure.

[8:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife.”

[8:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[8:19]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew has only one sentence, “and the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah for the sake of.” The translation divides it for the sake of clarity.

[8:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty; this is reflected in the translation.

[8:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[8:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for he was a relative by marriage of the house of Ahab.” For this use of חֲתַן (khatan), normally “son-in-law,” see HALOT 365 s.v. חָתָן. Ahab was Ahaziah’s grandfather on his mother’s side.

[9:7]  ²¹ tn Or “strike down the house of Ahab your master.”

[9:7]  ²² tn Heb “I will avenge the shed blood of my servants the prophets and the shed blood of all the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel.”

[9:12]  ²³ tn Heb “So he said, ‘Like this and like this he said to me, saying.’” The words “like this and like this” are probably not a direct quote of Jehu’s words to his colleagues. Rather this is the narrator’s way of avoiding repetition and indicating that Jehu repeated, or at least summarized, what the prophet had said to him.

[10:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he struck down all the remaining ones to Ahab in Samaria until he destroyed him.”

[10:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah.”

[11:7]  ²⁶ tn Verses 5b-7 read literally, “the third of you, the ones entering [on] the Sabbath and the ones guarding the guard of the house of the king, and the third in the gate of Sur, and the third in the gate behind the runners, and you will guard the guard of the house, alternating. And the two units of you, all the ones going out [on] the Sabbath, and they will guard the guard of the house of the Lord for the king.” The precise meaning of this text is impossible to determine. It would appear that the Carians and royal bodyguard were divided into three units. One unit would serve during the Sabbath; the other two would be off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada divided the first unit into three groups and assigned them different locations. The two off duty units were assigned the task of guarding the king.

[13:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[13:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “walked after.”

[13:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”

[13:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against.”

[13:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “he gave them into the hand of.”

[13:3]  ³² tn Heb “all the days.”

[13:5]  ³³ sn The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 143.

[13:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”

[13:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”

[13:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[13:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “turn away from all.”

[13:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in it he walked.”

[14:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[14:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “according to all which Joash his father had done, he did.”

[14:24]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[14:24]  ⁴² tn Heb “turn away from all.”

[14:26]  ⁴³ tc Heb “for the Lord saw the very bitter affliction of Israel.” This translation assumes an emendation of מֹרֶה (moreh), which is meaningless here, to ַהמַּר (hammar), the adjective “bitter” functioning attributively with the article prefixed. This emendation is supported by the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate. Another option would be מַר הוּא (mar hu’), “it was bitter.”

[14:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “[there was] none but the restrained, and [there was] none but the abandoned, and there was no deliverer for Israel.” On the meaning of the terms עָצוּר (’atsur) and עָזוּב (’azur), see the note at 1 Kgs 14:10.

[14:27]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “name.”

[14:27]  ⁴⁶ tn The phrase “from under heaven” adds emphasis to the verb “blot out” and suggest total annihilation. For other examples of the verb מָחָה (makhah), “blot out,” combined with “from under heaven,” see Exod 17:14; Deut 9:14; 25:19; 29:20.

[15:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[15:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “turn away from.”

[15:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “It was the word of the Lord which he spoke to Jehu, saying.”

[15:12]  ⁵⁰ tn “sons of four generations will sit for you on the throne of Israel.”

[15:12]  sn See the note at 2 Kgs 10:30.

[15:12]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and it was so.”

[15:18]  ⁵² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[15:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “turn away from.”

[15:18]  ⁵⁴ tc The MT of v. 18 ends with the words, “all his days.” If this phrase is taken with what precedes, then one should translate, “[who encouraged Israel to sin] throughout his reign.” However, it may be preferable to emend the text to בְיֹמָיו (bÿyomav), “in his days,” and join the phrase to what follows. The translation assumes this change.

[15:24]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[15:24]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “turn away from.”

[15:28]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[15:28]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “turn away from.”

[15:37]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin…and Pekahiah….”

[16:2]  ⁶⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:2]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God, like David his father.”

[16:3]  ⁶² tn Heb “he walked in the way of.”

[16:3]  ⁶³ sn This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

[16:3]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

[16:18]  ⁶⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מוּסַךְ (musakh; Qere) / מִיסַךְ (misakh; Kethib) is uncertain. For discussion see HALOT 557 s.v. מוּסַךְ and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189-90.

[16:18]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “that they built.”

[16:18]  ⁶⁷ sn It is doubtful that Tiglath-pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 190, 193.

[17:8]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “walked in the customs.”

[17:8]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “and [the practices of] the kings of Israel which they did.”

[17:17]  ⁷⁰ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

[17:17]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

[17:18]  ⁷² tn Heb “very angry.”

[17:18]  ⁷³ tn Heb “turned them away from his face.”

[17:19]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”

[17:20]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “afflicted.”

[17:28]  ⁷⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[17:28]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “fear.”

[17:33]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “fearing.”

[17:35]  ⁷⁹ tn Or “covenant.”

[17:35]  ⁸⁰ sn That is, the descendants of Jacob/Israel (see v. 35b).

[18:5]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, and those who were before him.”

[18:16]  ⁸² tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”

[18:35]  ⁸³ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[19:21]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[19:21]  ⁸⁵ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[19:21]  ⁸⁶ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[20:3]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[20:3]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “and with a complete heart.”

[20:3]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[20:3]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “wept with great weeping.”

[20:11]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:11]  ⁹² tn Heb “on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, back ten steps.”

[20:11]  sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.

[20:19]  ⁹³ tn Heb “good.”

[20:19]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “and he said.” Many English versions translate, “for he thought.” The verb אָמַר (’amar), “say,” is sometimes used of what one thinks (that is, says to oneself). Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT.

[20:19]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “Is it not [true] there will be peace and stability in my days?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, there will be peace and stability.”

[21:6]  ⁹⁶ tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.

[21:6]  ⁹⁷ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

[21:6]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov), “ritual pit,” refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov), “owner of a ritual pit.” See H. Hoffner, “Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.

[21:6]  ⁹⁹ tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (“him”) has been accidentally omitted in the MT by haplography (note the vav that immediately follows).

[21:9]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “listen.”

[21:12]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “so that everyone who hears it, his two ears will quiver.”

[22:2]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[22:2]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

[22:3]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”

[22:4]  ¹⁰⁵ tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.

[23:7]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”

[23:7]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.

[23:9]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “their brothers.”

[23:26]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “Yet the Lord did not turn away from the fury of his great anger, which raged against Judah, on account of all the infuriating things by which Manasseh had made him angry.”

[24:3]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “Certainly according to the word of the Lord this happened against Judah, to remove [them] from his face because of the sins of Manasseh according to all which he did.”

[24:4]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “and also the blood of the innocent which he shed, and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.”

[24:20]  ¹¹² tn Heb “Surely [or, ‘for’] because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he threw them out from upon his face.”

[25:9]  ¹¹³ tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”

[25:16]  ¹¹⁴ tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (vÿha-) on וְהַבָּקָר (vÿhabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (vÿhammÿkhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.