translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Or “when.”


text: For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “the sons of the prophets.”


text: Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5 .


text: For location see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: Heb “the two of them.” The referents (Elijah and Elisha) have been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”


text: Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”


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


text: Heb “You have made difficult [your] request.”


text: Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”


text: Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”


text: Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”


text: Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13 ).


text: Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”


text: Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”


text: Or “the spirit of the Lord .”


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


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


text: Heb “my.”


text: Heb “miscarries” or “is barren.”


text: Or “healed.”


text: Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”


text: Heb “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.”


text: The word נַעַר ( na ’ ar ), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35 ; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17 ; 2 Kgs 5:14 ; and Isa 11:6 .


text: Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord .” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.