2 Kings 13:20

20 Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring.

2 Kings 13:20 in Other Translations

KJV
20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.
ESV
20 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.
NLT
20 Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring.
MSG
20 Then Elisha died and they buried him.
CSB
20 Then Elisha died and was buried. Now marauding bands of Moabites used to come into the land in the spring of the year.

2 Kings 13:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 13:20

And Elisha died, and they buried him
In Samaria. Epiphanius says F14, in Sebastopolis of Samaria, Samaria itself was called Sebaste in later times; though the Jews say F15 he was buried in Mount Carmel, in the cave of Elijah; according to the Jewish chronology {p}, he died in the tenth year of Joash, and he prophesied more than sixty years; sixty six, as Abarbinel, since he began to prophesy in the nineteenth year of Jehoshaphat; and, according to Clemens F17 of Alexandria, when he was forty years of age; but it seems rather, as Kimchi observes, that he died in the beginning of the reign of Joash, and even before his father's death, when he was a partner with him in the throne, and before any salvation or deliverance from the Syrians was wrought:

and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the
year;
at the spring of the year, when there was fruit on the earth, those troops of robbers came to plunder and spoil; several of the Jewish writers observe, that in the word for "coming", (h) is instead of (a) , and so may be rendered "in that year", in that selfsame year that Elisha died; and so read the Syriac, Arabic, and the Vulgate Latin versions.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 De Vitis Prophet. c. 6.
F15 Cippi Heb. p. 46.
F16 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 19.
F17 Stromat. l. 1. p. 326.

2 Kings 13:20 In-Context

18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped.
19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
20 Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring.
21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
22 Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S 2 Kings 5:2; 2 Kings 3:7; 2 Kings 24:2
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