2 Kings 13:14-25

The Death of Elisha

14 Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, ¹"My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

15 And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows.

16 Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow," and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.

17 And he said, "Open the window eastward," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ²Aphek until you have made an end of them."

18 And he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them." And he struck three times and stopped.

19 Then ³the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only ⁴three times."

20 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of ⁵Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.

21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

22 ⁶Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

23 ⁷But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, ⁸and he turned toward them, ⁹because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

24 When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

25 Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities ¹⁰that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. ¹¹Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Kings 13:14-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 13

This chapter gives an account of the wicked reign of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, and of the low estate he was brought into by the Syrians, 2Ki 13:1-9, and of the reign of his son Joash, 2Ki 13:10-13, and of the sickness and death of Elisha; of the visit Joash made him in his sickness; and of his prediction of the king's success against the Syrians; and of the reviving of a dead man cast into the prophet's sepulchre, 2Ki 13:14-21 and of the success of Joash against the Syrians, according to the prediction of the prophet, 2Ki 13:22-25.

\\of Judah\\ The same year he was so zealous and busy in repairing the temple, 2Ki 12:6,

\\Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria\\; whereas Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and Jehu reigned but twenty eight years, 2Ki 10:36, and 2Ki 12:1, this could be but the twenty first of Joash; to reconcile which it must be observed, that it was at the beginning of the seventh year of Jehu that Joash began to reign, and at the beginning of the twenty third of Joash that Jehoahaz began to reign, as the Jewish commentators observe:

\\and reigned seventeen years\\; the two last of which were in common with his son, as Junius, see 2Ki 13:10 17831-941219-2104-2Ki13.2

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 2:12
• 2. 1 Kings 20:26
• 3. See Deuteronomy 33:1
• 4. ver. 25
• 5. 2 Kings 1:1; 2 Kings 3:7; 2 Kings 24:2
• 6. 2 Kings 8:12
• 7. 2 Kings 14:27
• 8. [Exodus 2:24, 25]
• 9. Exodus 32:13
• 10. [2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 14:25]
• 11. ver. 18, 19; [Amos 1:4]