2 Raja-raja 7:12

7:12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, ¹  “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’”

2 Raja-raja 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ²  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ³  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ⁴  men of the city were raising them.

[7:12]  ¹ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).

[10:6]  ² tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

[10:6]  ³ sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.