2 Kings 4:31

31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”

2 Kings 4:31 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:31

And Gehazi passed on before them
The prophet and the Shunammite:

and laid the staff upon the face of the child;
as he was ordered:

but there was neither voice nor hearing:
it seems as if he spoke when he laid the staff on the child, but it heard and answered him not, so that there was no sign of life in it:

wherefore he went again to meet him;
upon the road between Carmel and Shunem:

and told him, saying, the child is not awaked;
by which he expresses its being dead; or, if he knew nothing of its death, he supposed it fast asleep, which was the reason of its not hearing and answering, though the former seems best.

2 Kings 4:31 In-Context

29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel ; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”

30 But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.

31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”

32 When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.

33 He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD .