2 Kings 13:15
in 2 Kings 13Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows; and he took unto him bow and arrows.
KJV
And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
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This verse in 2 Kings 13
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The particular application of them to Elisha, who, by his counsels and prayer, had obtained many glorious victories for Israel, shows that the king possessed some measure of faith and trust, which, though weak, was accepted, and called forth the prophet's dying benediction.
This site's exposition
Take bow and arrows
on 2 Kings 13:15-19
The prophet's hands over the king's hands on the bow mark the arrow as the LORD's own act worked through a human hand, and the shot east through the open window is named outright, the arrow of the Lord's deliverance against Syria. Smiting the ground was the same kind of act, and Joash stops at three strokes where the man of God expected five or six, a king asked to keep asking and settling instead for a token obedience. Elisha's anger names the cost precisely: thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice, the measure of the asking returned as the measure of the victory.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he was to die, King Joash of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And Jehu, king of Israel, died, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), to intimate to him that, in order to the deliverance of his kingdom from the Syrians, he must put himself into a military posture and resolve to undergo the perils and fatigues of war.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And Elisha said unto him, take bow and arrows,.... The usual instruments of war in those days: and he took unto him bow and arrows; which though they might not be had in the house of the prophet, he could have some from his guards that attended him.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
His laying his hands upon the king's hands was to represent the power imparted to the bow shot as coming from the Lord through the medium of the prophet. His shooting the first arrow eastward--to that part of his kingdom which the Syrians had taken and which was east of Samaria--was a declaration of war against them for the invasion.
Take bow and arrows - The bow, the arrows, and the smiting on the ground, were all emblematical things, indicative of the deliverance of Israel from Syria.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לוֹ֙ | lo | to him | ||
| אֱלִישָׁ֔ע | ʾelisha' | Elisha | H477 → | 58 times |
| קַ֖ח | kach | take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| קֶ֣שֶׁת | keshet | a bow | H7198 → | 76 times |
| וְחִצִּ֑ים | vechitzim | and arrows | H2671 → | 53 times |
| וַיִּקַּ֥ח | vaiyikach | and he took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֵלָ֖יו | ʾelav | to himself | H413 → | 5510 times |
| קֶ֥שֶׁת | keshet | a bow | H7198 → | 76 times |
| וְחִצִּֽים׃ | vechitzim | and arrows | H2671 → | 53 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
לוֹ֙to him
lo
אֱלִישָׁ֔עElisha
ʾelisha'H477 →58 times
קַ֖חtake
kachH3947 →966 times
קֶ֣שֶׁתa bow
keshetH7198 →76 times
וְחִצִּ֑יםand arrows
vechitzimH2671 →53 times
וַיִּקַּ֥חand he took
vaiyikachH3947 →966 times
אֵלָ֖יוto himself
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
קֶ֥שֶׁתa bow
keshetH7198 →76 times
וְחִצִּֽים׃and arrows
vechitzimH2671 →53 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
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; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 13:14-19; 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.