2 Kings 8 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 8:10
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 8
Restored inheritance, Hazael foreseen, and the kings of Judah
Verse 8:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:1 Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, ‘Rise and go, you and your household, and stay as a sojourner wherever you can. For YHWH has called for famine, and it is coming upon the land for seven years.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:1 Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, ‘Rise and go, you and your household, and live as a sojourner wherever you may. For the Lord has called famine upon the land, and indeed it has come upon the land for seven years.’
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both warn of seven years of famine. Hebrew presents its coming; Greek states ‘it has come.’ The introductory past-perfect English marks background to the woman's return, without fixing this episode's chronology relative to Gehazi's earlier punishment.
Verse 8:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:2 The woman rose and acted according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and lived as sojourners in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:2 The woman rose and acted according to Elisha's word. She and her household went and lived as sojourners in the land of the foreigners for seven years.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names the Philistines; Greek uses ἀλλόφυλοι, ‘foreigners,’ its customary designation here. Both give seven years with her household.
Verse 8:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:3 At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and her field.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:3 After the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the foreigners to the city and came to cry to the king about her house and her fields.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek adds return ‘to the city’ and has plural fields; Hebrew has one field. Both state the seven-year interval and property appeal.
Verse 8:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:4 The king was speaking to Gehazi, the attendant of the man of God, saying, ‘Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:4 The king was speaking to Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God, saying, ‘Please recount to me all the great things Elisha has done.’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both place Gehazi in conversation with the king about Elisha's deeds. Neither verse supplies a new explanation of Gehazi's condition or the episode's chronology.
Verse 8:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:5 As he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, look, the woman whose son he had restored to life was appealing to the king for her house and her field. Gehazi said, ‘My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:5 As he was explaining to the king how he had revived a dead son, look, the woman whose son Elisha had revived was crying to the king about her house and her fields. Gehazi said, ‘Lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha revived.’
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both link the report with the woman's arrival and son. Greek explicitly says ‘a dead son’ where Hebrew says ‘the dead’; singular field/plural fields repeats verse three.
Verse 8:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:6 The king questioned the woman, and she told him. The king assigned her one court official, saying, ‘Restore all that belongs to her, and all the yield of the field from the day she left the land until now.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:6 The king questioned the woman, and she recounted it to him. The king assigned her one eunuch, saying, ‘Restore all her belongings and all the produce of her field from the day she left the land until now.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew סָרִיס can denote a court official or eunuch; the Hebrew column leaves bodily status unresolved. Greek explicitly uses εὐνοῦχος, ‘eunuch.’ Both restore produce as well as property.
Verse 8:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:7 Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Aram was ill. He was told, ‘The man of God has come here.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:7 Elisha came to Damascus, and the son of Ader, king of Syria, was ill. They reported to him, saying, ‘The man of God has come here.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Ben-hadad/son of Ader repeats the source-specific royal naming; both set the encounter during the king's illness.
Verse 8:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:8 The king said to Hazael, ‘Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of YHWH through him, saying, Will I recover from this illness?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:8 The king said to Hazael, ‘Take a manaa in your hand and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, saying, Will I recover from this illness of mine?’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek transliterates μαναα rather than translating Hebrew מִנְחָה, here a gift. The unfamiliar form is retained and explained in the term register.
Verse 8:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:9 Hazael went to meet him, taking a gift in his hand, with every good thing of Damascus, a load for forty camels. He came and stood before him and said, ‘Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram sent me to you, saying, Will I recover from this illness?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:9 Hazael went to meet him, taking a manaa in his hand and all the good things of Damascus, a load for forty camels. He came and stood before him and said to Elisha, ‘Your son, the son of Ader, king of Syria, sent me to you, saying, Will I recover from this illness of mine?’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Both retain forty camels and the respectful ‘your son.’ The gift's transliteration and royal naming remain source-specific.
Verse 8:10 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:10 Elisha said to him, ‘Go, say: You will certainly not live. YHWH has shown me that he will surely die.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:10 Elisha said, ‘Go, tell him: You will surely live. And the Lord has shown me that you will surely die.’
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: The displayed Hebrew running text has לֹא, ‘not,’ retained here as the negative written reading; its familiar alternate ‘to him’ reading is not silently adopted. Greek has αὐτῷ, ‘to him,’ and a positive life announcement, followed by second-person ἀποθανῇ, ‘you will die.’ A directly consulted written/read apparatus is still needed; this is a declared provisional treatment of the publisher's displayed wording. Rabbinic: Rashi on 8:10 [R1] understands the life saying as addressed to Hazael, who would survive Ben-hadad and gain the throne. The Chabad Hebrew display explicitly distinguishes read לו, “to him,” from written לא, “not”; this confirms the traditional alternative outside the BHS apparatus.
Verse 8:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:11 He fixed his face and held it until there was shame, and the man of God wept.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:11 He stood before his face and held it until shame, and the man of God wept.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Both contain difficult, compressed face-and-shame wording. Hebrew's causative standing is construed as fixing the face; Greek says he stood before his face. The unnamed subject and person feeling shame remain unresolved rather than assigned without evidence. Rabbinic: Rashi on 8:11 [R1] takes the held face as restraint of grief and עד בש as prolonged delay, comparing Exodus 32:1. That reading differs from the shame construal used provisionally in the running columns.
Verse 8:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:12 Hazael said, ‘Why is my lord weeping?’ He said, ‘Because I know the evil you will do to the sons of Israel: you will set their fortresses on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:12 Hazael said, ‘Why does my lord weep?’ He said, ‘Because I know all the evils you will do to the sons of Israel: you will send their strongholds into fire, kill their chosen men with the sword, dash down their infants, and tear open their pregnant women.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew specifies young men; Greek has chosen men. Both preserve the threatened atrocities as the reason for Elisha's weeping, without attributing approval to him.
Verse 8:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:13 Hazael said, ‘What is your servant, a dog, that he should do this great thing?’ Elisha said, ‘YHWH has shown me you as king over Aram.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:13 Hazael said, ‘Who is your slave, a dead dog, that he should do this thing?’ Elisha said, ‘The Lord has shown me you reigning over Syria.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek adds ‘dead’ to dog and lacks ‘great.’ Both connect the capacity to act with the coming kingship; the self-abasing question is not expanded into a moral denial.
Verse 8:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:14 He went away from Elisha and came to his master. He said to him, ‘What did Elisha say to you?’ He said, ‘He told me, You will surely live.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:14 He went away from Elisha and entered his master's presence. He said to him, ‘What did Elisha say to you?’ He said, ‘He told me, You will surely live.’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both have Hazael report only the life announcement. Under the displayed Hebrew written reading adopted in verse ten, his report differs from Elisha's negative message; the unresolved written/read issue remains explicit.
Verse 8:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:15 The next day he took the coverlet, dipped it in water, and spread it over his face. He died, and Hazael became king in his place.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:15 The next day he took the machma, dipped it in the water, and wrapped it over his face. He died, and Hazael became king in his place.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew מַכְבֵּר is provisionally a coverlet; Greek transliterates μαχμα. Both leave the action's subject unexpressed before naming Hazael's succession; the natural contextual inference is not expanded into an additional explanatory clause. Rabbinic: Rashi on 8:15 [R1] explains the covering as a garment and the spreading as intended to cool him. This attributed interpretation is kept separate from an inferred murder account.
Verse 8:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew includes ‘and Jehoshaphat king of Judah,’ construed as the concurrent circumstance; Greek omits it. Greek uses Joram for the Judean king as well as the Israelite king; Hebrew here distinguishes the longer Jehoram form.
Verse 8:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both retain the accession age, eight-year reign, and Jerusalem.
Verse 8:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab's daughter was his wife. He did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab's daughter was his wife. He did what was evil before the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both connect his conduct with Ahab's house and marriage, retaining the negative royal evaluation.
Verse 8:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:19 Yet YHWH was unwilling to destroy Judah for the sake of David His servant, as He had promised him to give him a lamp for his sons all the days.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:19 Yet the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah because of David His slave, as He had said He would give a lamp to him and to his sons all the days.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both preserve divine restraint for David's sake and the lamp image. Hebrew has ‘a lamp for his sons’; Greek explicitly coordinates ‘to him and to his sons.’
Verse 8:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:20 In his days Edom rebelled against Judah's authority and made a king over themselves.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:20 In his days Edom broke away from beneath Judah's hand and made a king over themselves.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both retain Edom's revolt and installation of its own king; authority renders the Hebrew hand idiom contextually.
Verse 8:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:21 Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. He rose by night and struck the Edomites surrounding him and the chariot commanders, and the people fled to their tents.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:21 Joram went up to Sior with all the chariots. He rose and struck the Edomites who had encircled him and the chariot commanders, and the people fled to their dwellings.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew specifies a night action and Zair; Greek lacks ‘night’ and gives Sior. Both preserve the potentially ambiguous relation of the commanders to the surrounding forces.
Verse 8:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:22 Edom has remained in revolt against Judah's authority to this day. Libnah also rebelled at that time.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:22 Edom has remained broken away from beneath Judah's hand to this day. Lobena also broke away at that time.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both describe continuing Edomite independence and the separate revolt of Libnah/Lobena, with the source-specific place form retained.
Verse 8:23 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:23 The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:23 The rest of the acts of Joram, and everything he did—look, are these not written in the book of the daily records for the kings of Judah?
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both close the reign with the royal record-book formula.
Verse 8:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:24 Joram lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Ahaziah his son became king in his place.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:24 Joram lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. Ahaziah his son became king in his place.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek adds ‘his father’ after David. Both give burial and succession by Ahaziah.
Verse 8:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Joram became king.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek omits ‘of Judah’ in the accession clause and uses Joram where Hebrew has the fuller Jehoram. Both retain the twelfth-year date.
Verse 8:26 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both give twenty-two, one year, Jerusalem, and Athaliah daughter of Omri. ‘Daughter’ is retained without silently replacing it with a more specific genealogical degree.
Verse 8:27 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil before the Lord, just as the house of Ahab did.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew includes the affinal kinship explanation; Greek omits it. Hebrew חֲתַן is retained as ‘son-in-law,’ with its broader marriage-related force left for genealogical review.
Verse 8:28 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans struck Joram.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of the foreigners at Remmoth-gilead. The Syrians struck Joram.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek calls Hazael ‘king of the foreigners’ here, then calls his forces Syrians; Hebrew consistently identifies Aram. The unexpected Greek title is not harmonized to the next verse.
Verse 8:29 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was ill.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to be treated for the wounds they had inflicted on him at Remmoth when he fought Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah son of Joram went down to see Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was ill.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names the Aramean agents, Ramah, and Ahaziah's Judean title; Greek has unnamed wounders, Remmoth, and no Judean title. Both narrate recovery in Jezreel and Ahaziah's visit.