2 Kings 8:8

8 And the king said to Hazael, Take with thee gifts, and go thou into the meeting of the man of God, and ask thou counsel by him of the Lord, and say thou, Whether I may escape from this my sickness? (And the king said to Hazael, Take gifts with thee, and go to meet the man of God, and ask thou for counsel with the Lord by him, and ask thou, Shall I recover from this sickness of mine?)

2 Kings 8:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 8:8

And the king said to Hazael
The captain general of his army:

take a present in thine hand, and go and meet the man of God,
who, perhaps, was not as yet come into the city, only into the region of Damascus: or rather "with thee"; so the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; and which Noldius F6 approves of, since a burden of forty camels, ( 2 Kings 8:9 ) could not be carried in the hand:

and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, shall I recover of this
disease?
he did not desire him to pray the Lord that he might recover, only was curious to know whether he should or not, see ( 2 Kings 1:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 189. No. 362.

2 Kings 8:8 In-Context

6 And the king asked the woman, and she told to him, that the things were sooth. And the king gave, or assigned, to her a chamberlain, and said, Restore thou to her all things that be hers, and all [the] fruits of the fields, from the day in which she left the land unto this present time.
7 Also Elisha came to Damascus (And Elisha came to Damascus), and Benhadad, king of Syria, was sick; and they told to him, and said, The man of God came hither.
8 And the king said to Hazael, Take with thee gifts, and go thou into the meeting of the man of God, and ask thou counsel by him of the Lord, and say thou, Whether I may escape from this my sickness? (And the king said to Hazael, Take gifts with thee, and go to meet the man of God, and ask thou for counsel with the Lord by him, and ask thou, Shall I recover from this sickness of mine?)
9 Therefore Hazael went in to the meeting of him, and had with him gifts, and all the goods of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he had stood before Elisha, he said, Thy son, Benhadad, king of Syria, sent me to thee, and said, Whether I may be healed of this my sickness? (And so Hazael went to meet him, and had gifts with him, and all the good things of Damascus, yea, the loads of forty camels. And when he had stood before Elisha, he said, Thy son, Benhadad, the king of Syria, sent me to thee, and said, Shall I be healed of my sickness?)
10 And Elisha said, Go thou, and say to him, Thou shalt be healed; forsooth the Lord [hath] showed to me that he shall die by death (but the Lord hath shown me that he shall die).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.