2 Kings 4:29-39

29 And he said to Gehazi, Gird thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go; and if a man meet thee, greet thou not him; and if any man greeteth thee, answer thou not him; and put thou my staff upon the face of the child. (And he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go; and if thou meet any man, greet thou him not; and if any man greeteth thee, answer thou him not; and put thou my staff on the child's face.)
30 Forsooth the mother of the child said, (As) The Lord liveth, and (as) thy soul liveth, I shall not leave thee. Therefore he rose (up), and followed her.
31 And Gehazi went before them, and putted the staff upon the face of the child; and there was not voice in him, neither wit. And Gehazi turned again into the meeting of him; and told to him, and said, The child rose not (And Gehazi returned to meet him; and said to him, The child did not get up).
32 Therefore Elisha entered into the house, and, lo! the dead child lay in his bed. (And so Elisha went into the house, and, lo! the child lay dead on his bed.)
33 And he entered, and closed the door on himself, and on the child; and prayed to the Lord.
34 And (then) Elisha went up, and lay upon the child; and he putted his mouth upon the mouth of the child, and his eyes upon the eyes of the child, and his hands upon the hands of the child. And he bowed himself (down) upon the child; and the flesh of the child was made hot.
35 And he turned again, and walked in the house once hither and thither; and (then) again Elisha went up, and lay upon the child, and the child coughed seven times, and opened the eyes (and opened his eyes).
36 And he called Gehazi, and said to him, Call thou this Shunammite. And she was called, and entered to him. And he said, Take thy son.
37 She came, and felled down to his feet, and worshipped on the earth; and she took her son, and went out. (She came, and fell down at his feet, and bowed low to the ground; and she took her son, and went out.)
38 And Elisha turned again into Gilgal. Forsooth hunger was in the land, and the sons of (the) prophets dwelled before him. And Elisha said to one of his servants, Set thou a great pot (on the fire), and seethe thou pottage to the sons of (the) prophets . (And Elisha returned to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land. And when the sons of the prophets sat before him, Elisha said to one of his servants, Put thou a great pot on the fire, and boil thou some broth, or some stew, for these sons of the prophets.)
39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs of the field; and he found as it were a wild vine, and he gathered thereof gourds of the field. And he [full-]filled his mantle, and he turned again, and shredded those into the pot of pottage; for he knew not what it was (And he filled his mantle, or his cloak, full, and he returned, and shredded them into the pot of broth, or of stew; but he did not know what it was).

2 Kings 4:29-39 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 4

This chapter treats of the miracles of Elisha, of his multiplying a poor widow's pot of oil for the payment of her husband's debts, 2Ki 4:1-7 of obtaining a son for a Shunamitish woman, who had been very hospitable to him, 2Ki 4:8-17, of his raising up her son to life when dead, 2Ki 4:18-37, of his curing the deadly pottage made of wild gourds, 2Ki 4:38-41, and of his feeding one hundred men with twenty barley loaves, 2Ki 4:42-44.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.