2 Kings 4:31
in 2 Kings 4Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
KJV
And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
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This verse in 2 Kings 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verseIn the mystery of prophetical revelation, Christ is symbolized by sign, as with Eliseus and Giezi who laid the staff on the child, who did not rise, and then Eliseus himself lay upon him. According to Gregory, this points to the Law and to Christ.
This site's exposition
As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live
on 2 Kings 4:30-31
The mother swears, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”. Elisha swore that oath to Elijah at 2:2, 2:4 and 2:6, and now he hears it. Gehazi lays the staff on the boy's face, “but there was no sound or response”.
This site's exposition
The boy has not awakened
Gehazi's report speaks of death as sleep, a way of speaking Albert Barnes found already familiar to the Jews. Barnes also set the silence beside the silence of Baal at 1 Kings 18:29, where no one answered. Bonaventure, after Gregory, read the staff as the Law.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Then the mother of the child said, 'As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you.' " Now, since Elisha had stayed at home and had sent his disciple, the mother of the [dead] child pressed him to aid …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Therefore fear had no power to raise us from the death of sin, but the infused grace of meekness erected us to the seat of life. Which is well denoted by Elisha when he raised the child of the Shunamite.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Neither voice - Neither speech, nor sense, nor any sign of life, in the child. This disappointment might proceed from hence, that Elisha having changed his mind, and yielded to her importunity to go with her, did alter his course, and not join his fervent prayers with Gehazi's action.
In the raising of dead souls to spiritual life ministers can do no more by their own power than Gehazi here could; they lay the word, like the prophet's staff, before their faces, but there is neither voice nor hearing, till Christ, by his Spirit, comes himself. The letter alone kills; it is the Spirit that gives life.
And Gehazi passed on before them,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
There was neither voice nor hearing - Compare 1Ki 18:29. The child is not awakened - See 2Ki 4:20. The euphemism by which death is spoken of as a sleep was already familiar to the Jews (see 1Ki 1:21 note).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The act of Gehazi was allowed to fail, in order to free the Shunammite, and the people of Israel at large, of the superstitious notion of supposing a miraculous virtue resided in any person, or in any rod, and to prove that it was only through earnest prayer and faith in the power of God and for His glory that this and every miracle was to be performed.
The words behind it
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְגֵחֲזִ֞י | vegechazi | and Gehazi | H1522 → | 12 times |
| עָבַ֣ר | ʾavar | he passed on | H5674 → | 556 times |
| לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם | lifneihem | <to> before them | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וַיָּ֤שֶׂם | vaiyasem | and he put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמִּשְׁעֶ֙נֶת֙ | hamishenet | the staff | H4938 → | 12 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵ֣י | penei | [the] face of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הַנַּ֔עַר | hanaar | the lad | H5288 → | 239 times |
| וְאֵ֥ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| ק֖וֹל | kol | [was] a sound | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| קָ֑שֶׁב | kashev | [was] attention | H7182 → | |
| וַיָּ֤שָׁב | vaiyashov | and he went back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לִקְרָאתוֹ֙ | likrato | to meet him | H7122 → | 139 times |
| וַיַּגֶּד־ | vaiyaged- | and he told | H5046 → | 370 times |
| ל֣וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הֵקִ֖יץ | hekitz | he has awakened | H6974 → | |
| הַנָּֽעַר׃ | hanaar | the lad | H5288 → | 239 times |
וְגֵחֲזִ֞יand Gehazi
vegechaziH1522 →12 times
עָבַ֣רhe passed on
ʾavarH5674 →556 times
לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם<to> before them
lifneihemH6440 →2123 times
וַיָּ֤שֶׂםand he put
vaiyasemH7760 →584 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַמִּשְׁעֶ֙נֶת֙the staff
hamishenetH4938 →12 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵ֣י[the] face of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
הַנַּ֔עַרthe lad
hanaarH5288 →239 times
וְאֵ֥יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
ק֖וֹל[was] a sound
kolH6963 →506 times
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
קָ֑שֶׁב[was] attention
kashevH7182 →
וַיָּ֤שָׁבand he went back
vaiyashovH7725 →1056 times
לִקְרָאתוֹ֙to meet him
likratoH7122 →139 times
וַיַּגֶּד־and he told
vaiyaged-H5046 →370 times
ל֣וֹto him
lo
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
הֵקִ֖יץhe has awakened
hekitzH6974 →
הַנָּֽעַר׃the lad
hanaarH5288 →239 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
Daniel 12:2And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
it leads to
- John 5:28–29
Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
- Isaiah 26:19
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her…
- Matthew 25:46
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Ezekiel 37:12
Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to…
- Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their…
- John 5:28–29
Through
John 11:11After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:10
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:10
Through
Ezekiel 14:3“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?
it leads to
- Ezekiel 14:7
For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the…
- Ezekiel 14:7
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 4:30-35; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 9; 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; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.