7:13a But one of his servants replied,
One of the king’s officers said,
-or-
One of the Israelite officers replied,
-or-
At that, one of the king’s officials/advisers spoke up. He suggested that
7:13b “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city.
“Please, some men should take five of the horses that remain in the city ⌊and ride out⌋ .
-or-
“Your Majesty, I suggest that ⌊we (incl.) send⌋ some men with five of our remaining horses ⌊to find out what has happened⌋ .
-or-
they send five of the surviving horses ⌊to follow/go after the enemy⌋ .
7:13c Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here.
The details of 7:13c-e are unclear in the MT. English verses paraphrase in various ways. It is acceptable to follow the Berean Standard Bible.
⌊These men will be at risk of death,⌋ but so are all the Israelites who remain in the city.
-or-
⌊It is dangerous,⌋ but these men will only be in the same bad situation as the other people of Israel who remain in Samaria.
-or-
The danger ⌊to the riders/scouts⌋ would only be the same as the danger to the Israelites left in Samaria.
7:13d You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed.
Yes, these men will be in no greater danger than all the other people of Israel.
-or-
These men will share the same fate as all these other Israelite people.
-or-
They would probably die, but so would the rest of ⌊their fellow⌋ Israelites.
7:13e So let us send them and find out.”
So let us (incl.) send them and see/learn the situation.”
-or-
⌊It will be good for your Majesty to⌋ send these men. ⌊They will go to the camp⌋ to see what is happening there.”
-or-
So they might as well go and find out what had happened.
7:13a-e (reordered)
One of his officials said, “Perhaps there are five horses still left alive in Samaria. We should send them out to find out what has happened. All of us (incl.) here in the city are going to die anyway, so nothing worse can happen to them.”
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