2 Raja-raja 1:2

1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ¹  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ²  “Go, ask ³  Baal Zebub, ⁴  the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

2 Raja-raja 1:9

1:9 The king ⁵  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ⁶  to retrieve Elijah. ⁷  The captain ⁸  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ⁹  He told him, “Prophet, ¹⁰  the king says, ‘Come down!’”

2 Raja-raja 17:27

17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you ¹¹  deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” ¹² 

2 Raja-raja 19:23

19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹³ 

‘With my many chariots ¹⁴ 

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, ¹⁵ 

its thickest woods.

2 Raja-raja 19:29

19:29 ¹⁶ This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: ¹⁷  This year you will eat what grows wild, ¹⁸  and next year ¹⁹  what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ²⁰ 

2 Raja-raja 24:2

24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. ²¹ 

[1:2]  ¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”

[1:2]  ³ tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”

[1:2]  ⁴ sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁹ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[17:27]  ¹¹ tc The second plural subject may refer to the leaders of the Assyrian army. However, some prefer to read “whom I deported,” changing the verb to a first person singular form with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix. This reading has some support from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic witnesses.

[17:27]  ¹² tc Heb “and let them go and let them live there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” The two plural verbs seem inconsistent with the preceding and following contexts, where only one priest is sent back to Samaria. The singular has the support of Greek, Syriac, and Latin witnesses.

[19:23]  ¹³ tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”

[19:23]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”

[19:29]  ¹⁶ tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).

[19:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.

[19:29]  ¹⁸ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

[19:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and in the second year.”

[19:29]  ²⁰ tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.

[24:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.”