Translating II Kings - The Miracles of Elisha

The story you have to translate 📜

Set Text 2 is from the book of II Kings: the story of the prophet **Elisha** (אֱלִישָׁע) and his **miracles** - the widow's oil, the Shunammite's son, the healing of Naaman, and the recovered axe head. In the exam you translate the **Hebrew** of this narrative into **English**. This module gives you the key **vocabulary** and, more importantly, a reliable **method** for turning the Hebrew into accurate, natural English. (Every English wording here is our own - no published translation is copied.)

Words that carry the story 🗂️

High-frequency vocabulary from the narrative, shown as pointed Hebrew, then a transliteration, then the English. Hebrew reads right to left.

Match the Hebrew to the English 🔗

What does it mean? 🔍

Elisha is described again and again as a נָבִיא (navi). What does that word mean?

• Prophet
• King
• Servant
• Son

How Hebrew tells a story 📖

Biblical Hebrew narrative runs on one verb form above all: the **wayyiqtol** (the vav-consecutive), which the grammar siblings cover in detail. It is a verb with a **prefixed vav** ("and") that moves a PAST-tense story forward, event by event: "and he went... and he said... and it happened...". When you meet it, translate it as a **simple past** that carries the action on - not as a future. Spotting the wayyiqtol is the single most useful habit for translating this text.

Reading the narrative tense ✅

A clause in the Elisha story opens with a wayyiqtol (vav-consecutive) verb. How should you translate it?

• As a simple past tense that moves the story on ("and he went...")
• As a future tense ("he will go")
• As a command ("go!")
• As a question ("did he go?")

Two stages of a good translation ⚖️

A strong translation is built in two passes. Do the literal pass first to be sure of the grammar, then the idiomatic pass so it reads as real English.

Match each term to its meaning 🧩

What good translation involves 🔤

Select the TWO things a careful translation of this text always involves.

• Finding the root of each verb and parsing its binyan and tense
• Turning a literal rendering into natural English while keeping the meaning
• Adding extra details to make the story more exciting
• Skipping any word you are unsure of

The method, step by step 🪜

An interactive activity.

Translate it well 🧭

An interactive activity.

The summary 📝

To translate the Elisha narrative, read the Hebrew from _____ to left, find each verb's _____, then parse its binyan and tense - the _____ verb (vav-consecutive) drives past narrative. Write a _____ rendering first to check the grammar, then polish it into natural _____.

Your turn ✍️

An interactive activity.

The grade-9 habit 🌟

Top translations of this text do two things at once: they are **accurate** and they read as **real English**. Get there by always parsing the verb first - root, binyan, and especially the **wayyiqtol** past narrative - so the grammar is secure. Then make the **idiomatic** pass, keeping the meaning exactly and adding nothing. Use the **context** of the story to settle any word with more than one sense. Accurate grammar, natural English, nothing invented - that is what the top band rewards.