2 Kings 6:4
in 2 Kings 6So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.
KJV
So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.
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This verse in 2 Kings 6
Commentary
5 notes on this verseElisha, by casting a stick into the river Jordan, recovered the iron part of the axe with which the sons of the prophets had gone to cut down trees to build the house in which they wished to read and study the law and commandments of God; even as our Christ, by being crucified on the tree, and by purifying us with water, has redeemed us, though plunged in the direst offences which we have committed, and has made us a house of prayer and adoration.
This site's exposition
Please come with your servants
on 2 Kings 6:3-4
One of the company presses Elisha to come himself, and he agrees with the same brevity, I will go. A prophet does not treat cutting beams as beneath him. The text spends two verses on an errand, because the ordinary labor is what sets up the loss that follows.
This site's exposition
began to cut down some trees
Justin Martyr names the purpose of the building: a house where the sons of the prophets would read and study the law of God. He read the stick and the water of this story as a figure of Christ crucified on the tree and of cleansing by water.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
When the divine lesson was read now, dearly beloved, we heard that as blessed Elisha was going to the river Jordan with the sons of the prophets to cut some wood, an ax fell into the water, and the man from whose hand it slipped …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. Trees which grew upon the banks of it, to build their house with, at least for the rafters and flooring of it, supposing the walls to be built of stone.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ | vaiyelekh | and he went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אִתָּ֑ם | ʾitam | with them | H854 → | 929 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הַיַּרְדֵּ֔נָה | haiyardenah | the Jordan towards | H3383 → | 182 times |
| וַֽיִּגְזְר֖וּ | vaiyigzeru | and they cut down | H1504 → | |
| הָעֵצִֽים׃ | haetzim | <the> trees | H6086 → | 328 times |
וַיֵּ֖לֶךְand he went
vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times
אִתָּ֑םwith them
ʾitamH854 →929 times
וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙and they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
הַיַּרְדֵּ֔נָהthe Jordan towards
haiyardenahH3383 →182 times
וַֽיִּגְזְר֖וּand they cut down
vaiyigzeruH1504 →
הָעֵצִֽים׃<the> trees
haetzimH6086 →328 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Deuteronomy 29:11your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—
it leads to
- Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
- Exodus 12:48–49
If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be…
- Deuteronomy 5:14
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox…
- Colossians 3:11
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
- Joshua 9:21–27
They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation.” So the leaders kept their promise.
- Exodus 12:38
Through
Deuteronomy 19:5If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor,…
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:12
The prudent see danger and take cover; but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
- Numbers 35:25
The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live…
- Isaiah 32:2
Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
- Proverbs 27:12
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 130.1-3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXXVI.