2 Kings 4:19
in 2 Kings 4“My head! My head!” he complained to his father. So his father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
KJV
And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
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This verse in 2 Kings 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
My head, my head!--The cries of the boy, the part affected, and the season of the year, make it probable that he had been overtaken by a stroke of the sun. Pain, stupor, and inflammatory fever are the symptoms of the disease, which is often fatal.
This site's exposition
he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters
on 2 Kings 4:18-20
The boy is old enough to walk out to the harvesters, and there he cries. A servant carries him to his mother, and he sits on her lap “until noon, and then he died”. The text names no cause, and the harvest season has led readers to think of sunstroke.
This site's exposition
My head! My head!
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown judged from the cry and the harvest season that the boy had taken a stroke of the sun. Pain, stupor and burning fever mark the illness, which often kills.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her," but after a few years, the child died. His mother placed the corpse on the bed of the prophet in the high room of her house …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And he said unto his father, my head, my head,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
My head, my head - Probably affected by the coup de soleil, or sun stroke, which might, in so young a subject, soon occasion death, especially in that hot country.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The child’s malady was a sunstroke. The inhabitants of Palestine suffered from this (Psa 121:6; Isa 49:10; Judith 8:3).
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֥אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אָבִ֖יו | ʾaviv | father his | H1 → | 1212 times |
| רֹאשִׁ֣י׀ | roshi | head my | H7218 → | 599 times |
| רֹאשִׁ֑י | roshi | head my | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַנַּ֔עַר | hanaar | the servant | H5288 → | 239 times |
| שָׂאֵ֖הוּ | saehu | carry him | H5375 → | 656 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אִמּֽוֹ׃ | ʾimo | mother his | H517 → | 220 times |
וַיֹּ֥אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אָבִ֖יוfather his
ʾavivH1 →1212 times
רֹאשִׁ֣י׀head my
roshiH7218 →599 times
רֹאשִׁ֑יhead my
roshiH7218 →599 times
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַנַּ֔עַרthe servant
hanaarH5288 →239 times
שָׂאֵ֖הוּcarry him
saehuH5375 →656 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אִמּֽוֹ׃mother his
ʾimoH517 →220 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach 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
Jeremiah 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm…
it leads to
- Habakkuk 3:16
I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…
- Isaiah 22:4
Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Isaiah 16:11
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
- Jeremiah 9:1
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Isaiah 21:3
Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Habakkuk 3:16
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 4:17; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.