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2 Kings 2:16

in 2 Kings 2

“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” “Do not send them,” Elisha replied.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they said unto him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

KJV

And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

This verse in 2 Kings 2

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Strong men - Able to take such a journey. Lest, &c. - They thought, either that God had not finally taken him away from them, but only for a time; or that God had only taken away his soul, and that his body was cast down into some place, which they desired to seek, that they might give it an honourable burial.

This site's exposition

we your servants have fifty valiant men

on 2 Kings 2:16-18

The prophets offer fifty men to search, fearing “the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains”. Obadiah feared the same for Elijah at 1 Kings 18:12. Elisha refuses, then yields, and the fifty search three days and find nothing.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Some of them perhaps started this as a demurrer to the choice of Elisha: "Let us first be sure that Elijah has quite gone. Can we think Elijah thus neglected by heaven, that chosen vessel thus cast away as a vessel in which was no pleasure?" 2.
And they said unto him, behold, now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

smote the waters--The waving of the mantle on the river, and the miraculous division of the waters consequent upon it, was an evidence that the Lord God of Elijah was with him, and as this miracle was witnessed by the scholars of the prophets from Jericho, they forthwith recognized the pre-eminence of Elisha, as now the prophet of Israel.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Fifty strong men - Probably the same fifty who are mentioned 2Ki 2:7, and who saw Elijah taken up in the whirlwind. Cast him upon some mountain - Though they saw him taken up towards heaven, yet they thought it possible that the Spirit of the Lord might have descended with him, and left him on some remote mountain or valley. Ye shall not send - He knew that he was translated to heaven, and that therefore it would be useless.
Compare the marginal references. The words “cast him upon some mountain,” rather imply that they expected to find the prophet alive.

The words behind it

29 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּאמְר֣וּand they said

    vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלָ֡יוto him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • הִנֵּה־here!

    hineh-H2009 →843 times

  • נָ֣אplease

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • יֵֽשׁ־there

    yesh-H3426 →140 times

  • אֶת־with

    ʾet-H854 →929 times

  • עֲבָדֶיךָ֩servants your

    ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times

  • חֲמִשִּׁ֨ים[are] fifty

    chamishimH2572 →163 times

  • אֲנָשִׁ֜יםmen

    ʾanashimH582 →566 times

  • בְּנֵֽי־sons of

    benei-H1121 →4930 times

  • חַ֗יִלability

    chayilH2428 →246 times

  • יֵ֣לְכוּlet them go

    yelekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • נָא֮please

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • וִיבַקְשׁ֣וּso they may search for

    vivakshuH1245 →225 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֲדֹנֶיךָ֒master<s> your

    ʾadoneikhaH113 →333 times

  • פֶּן־lest

    pen-H6435 →

  • נְשָׂאוֹ֙it has carried off him

    nesaoH5375 →656 times

  • ר֣וּחַ[the] spirit of

    ruachH7307 →378 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַיַּשְׁלִכֵ֙הוּ֙and it has cast him

    vaiyashlikhehuH7993 →125 times

  • בְּאַחַ֣דon one of

    beachadH259 →971 times

  • הֶהָרִ֔יםthe mountains

    heharimH2022 →546 times

  • א֖וֹor

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • בְּאַחַ֣תin one of

    beachatH259 →971 times

  • הַגֵּאָי֑וֹתthe valleys

    hageyaotH1516 →59 times

  • וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִשְׁלָֽחוּ׃you must send

    tishlachuH7971 →845 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Acts 8:39

    When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 8:3

      He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God…

      Reached by 4 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 11:1

      Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Kings 18:12

      I do not know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off when I leave you. Then when I go and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill…

    • Ezekiel 3:12–14

      Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: ‘Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His dwelling place!’

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 43:5

      Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 3:14

    So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 1:3

      the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Jeremiah 20:7–9

      You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

    • Ezekiel 37:1

      The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.