This verse has two occurrences of the Hebrew focusing particle hinneh, which is often translated “behold”. However, neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation translates these particles here. The Hebrew for this verse is literally “While he was still speaking with them, and behold the messenger came down to him and said, ‘Behold this trouble….’ ” The focusing particles here draw attention to what follows.
The king came down: The traditional Hebrew text as well as all of the ancient versions say “the messenger came down” (King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Jewish Publication Version; similarly Contemporary English Version). However, the two words for “king” and “messenger” are very similar in Hebrew, and the first-century Jewish historian Josephus knew a text in which it was the king himself who came to Elisha. Certainly the quotation that follows seems to be from the king himself, and this is confirmed in 2 Kgs 7.18. So translators are advised to follow Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation, using “king” in the text and adding a footnote that says the Hebrew has “messenger.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project strongly recommends the reading “king” but gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text, which reads “messenger,” since there are no textual witnesses for the reading “king.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {C} rating to the corrected text “king,” which is followed by Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Bible en français courant. If the Masoretic Text is followed here, then it must be assumed that the king himself came soon after his messenger. Even though the text does not explicitly say that the king came, this is clear from 2 Kgs 7.2.
This trouble is from the LORD: In certain languages it will be more natural to make the LORD the subject of this sentence by saying “The LORD is the one who has caused this trouble.”
Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?: What is implied here is that the king of Israel had been waiting for Yahweh to deliver him and his people from the Syrian army. He now finds that it is useless to wait any longer since he is convinced that the trouble has, in fact, been caused by Yahweh. Since this question may be understood as rhetorical, two possible models for translating it as a statement are “I see no reason to expect any help from the LORD now” and “There is no reason to think that the LORD will help us now!”
In some cases the king’s whole response will be considered more natural if its two main elements are presented in reverse order. A possible model is “Why should I wait any longer for the LORD to help us? He is the one who has caused all this trouble.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .