2 Raja-raja 1:9

1:9 The king ¹  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ²  to retrieve Elijah. ³  The captain ⁴  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ⁵  He told him, “Prophet, ⁶  the king says, ‘Come down!’”

2 Raja-raja 1:13

1:13 The king ⁷  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ⁸  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.

2 Raja-raja 3:19

3:19 You will defeat every fortified city and every important ⁹  city. You must chop down ¹⁰  every productive ¹¹  tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones.” ¹² 

2 Raja-raja 6:20

6:20 When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open their eyes, so they can see.” The Lord opened their eyes and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria. ¹³ 

2 Raja-raja 7:8

7:8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. ¹⁴  They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. ¹⁵  Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it ¹⁶  and went and hid what they had taken.

2 Raja-raja 9:14

9:14 Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.

Jehu the Assassin

Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army, ¹⁷  guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria.

2 Raja-raja 9:25

9:25 Jehu ordered ¹⁸  his officer Bidkar, “Pick him up and throw him into the part of the field that once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel. Remember, you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, when the Lord pronounced this judgment on him,

2 Raja-raja 11:19

11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ¹⁹  and the king ²⁰  sat down on the royal throne.

2 Raja-raja 12:7

12:7 So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest along with the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, take no more silver from your treasurers unless you intend to use it to repair the damage.” ²¹ 

2 Raja-raja 15:25

15:25 His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him. He and fifty Gileadites assassinated Pekahiah, as well as Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the fortress of the royal palace. ²²  Pekah then took his place as king.

2 Raja-raja 19:28

19:28 Because you rage against me,

and the uproar you create has reached my ears; ²³ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ²⁴ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back the way

you came.”

2 Raja-raja 21:3

21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ²⁵  and worshiped ²⁶  them.

2 Raja-raja 23:3

23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed ²⁷  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ²⁸  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ²⁹  by carrying out the terms ³⁰  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. ³¹ 

2 Raja-raja 23:15

23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel ³²  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ³³  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³⁴ 

2 Raja-raja 25:17

25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet ³⁵  high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet ³⁶  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

2 Raja-raja 25:23

25:23 All of the officers of the Judahite army ³⁷  and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.

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

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “to him.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁵ sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).

[1:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “choice” or “select.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Elisha places the object first and uses an imperfect verb form. The stylistic shift may signal that he is now instructing them what to do, rather than merely predicting what would happen.

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good.”

[3:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and ruin every good portion with stones.”

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they saw, and look, [they were] in the middle of Samaria.”

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they ate and drank.”

[7:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they hid [it].”

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they took from there.”

[9:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he and all Israel.”

[9:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “said to.”

[11:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

[11:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “Now, do not take silver from your treasurers, because for the damages to the temple you must give it.”

[15:25]  ²² tn Heb “and he struck him down in Samaria in the fortress of the house of the king, Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men from the sons of the Gileadites, and they killed him.”

[15:25]  sn The precise identity of Argob and Arieh, as well as their relationship to the king, are uncertain. The usual assumption is that they were officials assassinated along with Pekahiah, or that they were two of the more prominent Gileadites involved in the revolt. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 173.

[19:28]  ²³ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךְ (sha’anankh), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ (sha’avankh), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.

[19:28]  ²⁴ sn The word picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[21:3]  ²⁵ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.

[21:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “served.”

[23:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”

[23:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “walk after.”

[23:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “soul.”

[23:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “words.”

[23:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “stood in the covenant.”

[23:15]  ³² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[23:15]  ³³ tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.

[23:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

[25:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.

[25:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”

[25:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.