מלכים ב י״ג:כ׳-כ״א

יבאו בארץ. היו רגילין לבא ולשלול בארץ:

Would invade the land. It was common for them to come and plunder the land.¹⁰After Elisha’s death.—Radak For as long as he was alive no Aramean dared to invade as indicated in II Melochim 6:23.

בא שנה. במיעל שתא, בתשובת השנה, בעוד הארץ מליאה דשאים ויש מאכל לבהמתם, דרך חיילות לצאת:

At the beginning of each year. [Targum Yonoson renders,] “at the beginning of the year,”¹¹I.e., בָּא שָׁנָה means “when the year [= שָׁנָה] enters [=בָּא].” However, שָׁנָה is feminine and בא is masculine. This difficulty can be resolved by substituting בָּא with בָּהּ, meaning “in that very year,” i.e., the year that Elisha died.—Radak. Or, בָּא שָׁנָה means, “when he [Elisha] had come [to his resting place] for a year.—Ralbag [i.e.,] at the return of the year, when the ground is still full of vegetation, and there is food for their animals, it is customary for troops to set out [for war].