2tn Or “cried out.”

3tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

4tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”

5tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”

6tn Heb “all these vessels.”

7tn Heb “to her son.”

8tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).

9tn Heb “great,” perhaps “wealthy.”

10tn Or “she urged him to eat some food.”

11tn Or “he would turn aside there to eat some food.”

12tn Heb “I know.”

13tn Heb “holy man of God.”

14tn Heb “a small upper room of a wall”; according to HALOT 832 s.v. עֲלִיָּה, this refers to “a fully walled upper room.”

15tn Heb “and let’s put there for him.”

16tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

17tn Heb “turned aside.”

18tn Or “slept there.”

19tn Heb “Call for this Shunammite woman.”

20tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood before him.”

21tn Heb “he said to him.”

22tn Heb “you have turned trembling to us with all this trembling.” The exaggerated language is probably idiomatic. The point seems to be that she has taken great pains or gone out of her way to be kind to them. Her concern was a sign of her respect for the prophetic office.

23tn Heb “Among my people I am living.” This answer suggests that she has security within the context of her family.

24tn Heb “and he said.”

25tn Heb “Call for her.”

26tn Heb “and he called her.”

27tn Heb “and he called for her and she stood in the door.”

28tn Heb “at this appointed time, at the time [when it is] reviving.” For a discussion of the second phrase see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.

29tn Heb “to his father, to the harvesters.”

30tn Heb “He”; the referent (the boy’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

31tn Heb “knees.”

32tn Heb “man of God’s.”

33sn The new moon was a time of sacrifice and special feasts (Num 28:14; 1 Sam 20:5). Apparently it was a convenient time to visit a prophet. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.

34tn Heb “peace.”

35tn Heb “lead [the donkey on] and go.”

36tn Heb “do not restrain for me the riding unless I say to you.”

37tn Heb “went and came.”

38tn Heb “the man of God.” The phrase has been replaced by the relative pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

39tn Heb “she said.” The narrator streamlines the story at this point, omitting any reference to Gehazi running to meet her and asking her the questions.

40tn Heb “her soul [i.e., ‘disposition’] is bitter.”

41tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

42tn Heb “take my staff in your hand.”

43tn Heb “If you meet a man, do not greet him with a blessing; if a man greets you with a blessing, do not answer.”

44tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent must be Elisha here, since the following verse makes it clear that Gehazi had gone on ahead of them.

45tn Heb “to meet him.”

46tn Heb “look.”

47tn Heb “and closed the door behind the two of them.”

48tn Heb “he went up and lay down over.”

49tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).

50tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”

51tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

52tn Heb “and he returned and went into the house, once here and once there.”

53tn Heb “and he went up.”

54tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

55tn Heb “and he called for her.”

56tn Heb “the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.”

57tn The words “the fire” are added for clarification.

58tn Heb “sons of the prophets.”

59tn Heb “a vine of the field.”

60tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”

61tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”

62tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

63tn Heb “and they poured out [the stew].” The plural subject is probably indefinite.

64tn Or “and let them eat.”

65tn Heb “man of God.”

66tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

67tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

68tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”

69tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.

70tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”