translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: For location see Map2-B1 ; Map4-D3 ; Map5-E2 ; Map6-A4 ; Map7-C1 .


text: Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”


text: That is, “seek an oracle from.”


text: Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question.


text: Heb “to him.” sn The narrative is elliptical and telescoped here. The account of Elijah encountering the messengers and delivering the Lord’s message is omitted; we only here of it as the messengers report what happened to the king.


text: Heb “said to him.”


text: Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are sending to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question. In v. 3 the messengers are addressed (in the phrase “you are on your way” the second person plural pronoun is used in Hebrew), but here the king is addressed (in the phrase “you are sending” the second person singular pronoun is used).


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “What was the manner…?”


text: Heb “an owner of hair.” This idiomatic expression indicates that Elijah was very hairy. For other examples where the idiom “owner of” is used to describe a characteristic of someone, see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל . For example, an “owner of dreams” is one who frequently has dreams ( Gen 37:19 ) and an “owner of anger” is a hot-tempered individual ( Prov 22:24 ).


text: Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).


text: Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”


text: Heb “to him.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13 ).


text: Heb “answered and said to the officer of fifty.”


text: Wordplay contributes to the irony here. The king tells Elijah to “come down” (Hebrew יָרַד , yarad ), but Elijah calls fire down ( יָרַד ) on the arrogant king’s officer.


label: NET textual note

text: The MT reads, “he answered and said to him.” The verb “he answered” ( וַיַּעַן , vayya ’ an ) is probably a corruption of “he went up” ( וַיַּעַל , vayya ’ al ). See v. 9 .


text: Two medieval Hebrew mss , the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “to him.”


text: Or “intense fire.” The divine name may be used idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the fire. Whether one translates אֱלֹהִים (’ elohim ) here as a proper name or idiomatically, this addition to the narrative (the name is omitted in the first panel, v. 10 b) emphasizes the severity of the judgment and is appropriate given the more intense command delivered by the king to the prophet in this panel.


text: Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”


text: Heb “look.”


text: Heb “their fifty.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is there no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”


text: Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke through Elijah.”


text: Heb “As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not recorded in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”