2 Tawarikh 18:28--19:3

18:28 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead. 18:29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and then enter ¹  the battle; but you wear your royal attire.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the battle. 18:30 Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; ²  fight only the king of Israel!” 18:31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel!” So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The Lord helped him; God lured them away from him. 18:32 When the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him. 18:33 Now an archer shot an arrow at random ³  and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king ⁴  ordered his charioteer, “Turn around and take me from the battle line, ⁵  for I am wounded.” 18:34 While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening as the sun was setting.

19:1 When King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home safely to Jerusalem, ⁶  19:2 the prophet ⁷  Jehu son of Hanani confronted him; ⁸  he said to King Jehoshaphat, “Is it right to help the wicked and be an ally of those who oppose the Lord? ⁹  Because you have done this the Lord is angry with you! ¹⁰  19:3 Nevertheless you have done some good things; ¹¹  you removed ¹²  the Asherah poles from the land and you were determined to follow the Lord.” ¹³ 

[18:29]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verbal forms could be imperatives (“Disguise yourself and enter”), but this would make no sense in light of the immediately following context. The forms are better interpreted as infinitives absolute functioning as cohortatives (see IBHS 594 §35.5.2a). Some prefer to emend the forms to imperfects.

[18:30]  ² tn Heb “small or great.”

[18:33]  ³ tn Heb “now a man drew a bow in his innocence” (i.e., with no specific target in mind, or at least without realizing his target was the king of Israel).

[18:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “camp.”

[19:1]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[19:2]  ⁷ tn Or “seer.”

[19:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “went out to his face.”

[19:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and love those who hate the Lord?”

[19:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and because of this upon you is anger from before the Lord.”

[19:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “nevertheless good things are found with you.”

[19:3]  ¹² tn Here בָּעַר (ba’ar) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער.

[19:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you set your heart to seek the Lord.”