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2 Kings 4:24

in 2 Kings 4

Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slacken me not the riding, except I bid thee.

KJV

Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

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This verse in 2 Kings 4

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Drive, and go forward - It is customary in the East for a servant to walk along side or drive the ass his master rides. Sometimes he walks behind, and goads on the beast; and when it is to turn, he directs its head with the long pole of the goad. It is probably to this custom that the wise man alludes when he says, “I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking as servants on the earth,” on the ground.

This site's exposition

Drive, and go forward; slack

on 2 Kings 4:24-26

Carmel lies some fifteen to twenty miles from Shunem by the commentators' reckoning, a hard ride the woman drives without slackening. Gehazi's threefold question, is it well, is it well, is it well, receives one answer, it is well, the same word she gave her husband, now spoken over a dead child with the same settled confidence rather than as evasion. Elisha sees her while she is yet afar off, seeing her before he can yet see what has happened.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 4:17 · Written before 373.

proposed

"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

Then she saddled an ass,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Drive, and go forward--It is usual for women to ride on asses, accompanied by a servant, who walks behind and drives the beast with his stick, goading the animal at the speed required by his mistress.
Slack not thy riding - Translate, “delay me not in my riding, except I bid thee.” The servant went on foot with the donkey to urge it forward, as is the ordinary custom in the East.

The words behind it

15 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.

  • וַֽתַּחֲבֹשׁ֙and she saddled

    vatachavoshH2280 →

  • הָֽאָת֔וֹןthe donkey

    haatonH860 →

  • וַתֹּ֥אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֶֽל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • נַעֲרָ֖הּservant her

    naarahH5288 →239 times

  • נְהַ֣גlead on

    nehagH5090 →

  • וָלֵ֑ךְand go

    valekhH1980 →1546 times

  • אַל־may not

    ʾal-H408 →724 times

  • תַּעֲצָר־you hold back

    taatzor-H6113 →47 times

  • לִ֣י<to> me

    li

  • לִרְכֹּ֔בto ride

    lirkoH7392 →78 times

  • כִּ֖יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אִם־except

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • אָמַ֥רְתִּיI have said

    ʾamartiH559 →5305 times

  • לָֽךְ׃to you

    lakh

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

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Luke 10:4Carry no purse or bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the road.4 works1 Kings 13:23And after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.2 works1 Kings 13:13So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it2 worksExodus 4:20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.2 works1 Samuel 25:19–20and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.2 works1 Samuel 25:20As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Kings 4:22And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.”2 worksJoshua 10:6Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, because all the kings of the Amorites from the hill country have joined forces against us.”2 works

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

    Exodus 4:20

    So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 17:9

      So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

    • Numbers 20:8–9

      “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from…

    • Exodus 18:3–4

      along with her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”

    • Numbers 20:11

      Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

    • Exodus 4:2

      And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

  • Through

    1 Kings 13:13

    So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it

    it leads to

    • Numbers 22:21

      So in the morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

    • 1 Kings 13:27

      Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it,

    • 2 Samuel 19:26

      “My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 4 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; 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 Keil, The Books of the Kings.

Read on in 2 Kings 4 →