Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHazael said, "What am I — your servant, a mere dog — that I could accomplish anything so tremendous?" And Elisha answered, "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Aram."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GChazael said, "But what is your servant — a mere dog — that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "YHWH has shown me that you will be king over Aram."
KJV
King James VersionAnd Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
BSB
Berean Standard Bible“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
Footnotes
"A mere dog" (*kelev*, כֶּלֶב) is a conventional ANE expression of extreme self-deprecation before a superior, attested in the Lachish Letters and Amarna correspondence. Here it drips with dark irony: Chazael is already calculating how to seize the throne. Elisha's terse reply — "YHWH has shown me" — makes no moral comment on Chazael's fitness to rule. The kingship of Aram is a divine appointment even when the appointee is a usurper-in-waiting, recalling how sovereignty can be granted to a flawed vessel without endorsing that vessel's conduct.
