2 Kings 4:36
in 2 Kings 4Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.
KJV
And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.
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This verse in 2 Kings 4
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Take up thy son
on 2 Kings 4:36-37
Take up thy son closes the same command in reverse that opened the ordeal, the boy who was carried in dead at v20 is now told to be carried out alive by his own mother. Her bow to the ground before she lifts him answers her earlier grasp at Elisha's feet on the hill, gratitude standing where a plea for mercy stood before. The scene frames itself: she went out at v21 leaving a body behind a shut door, and she goes out here carrying a living son through an open one.
The record, by era
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 Awakening2 voices
And he called Gehazi, and said, call this Shunammite,.... To come up to the chamber to him: so he called her: and when she was come in unto him, he said, take up thy son; from off the bed, alive, safe, and sound.
A famine of bread there was, but not of hearing the word of God, for Elisha had the sons of the prophets sitting before him, to hear his wisdom, who were taught, that they might teach others. Two instances we have here of the care he took about their meat. Christ twice fed those to whom he preached.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Take up thy son - Compare Elijah’s action (marginal reference “t”) and our Blessed Lord’s Luk 7:15.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקְרָ֣א | vaiyikra' | and he summoned | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| גֵּיחֲזִ֗י | geichazi | Gehazi | H1522 → | 12 times |
| וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| קְרָא֙ | kera' | summon | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַשֻּׁנַמִּ֣ית | hashunamit | the Shunammite [woman] | H7767 → | 8 times |
| הַזֹּ֔את | hazot | <the> this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| וַיִּקְרָאֶ֖הָ | vaiyikraeha | and he summoned her | H7121 → | 733 times |
| וַתָּב֣וֹא | vatavo' | and she came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלָ֑יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וַיֹּ֖אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שְׂאִ֥י | sei | take up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| בְנֵֽךְ׃ | venekh | son your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
וַיִּקְרָ֣אand he summoned
vaiyikra'H7121 →733 times
אֶל־<to>
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
גֵּיחֲזִ֗יGehazi
geichaziH1522 →12 times
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
קְרָא֙summon
kera'H7121 →733 times
אֶל־<to>
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַשֻּׁנַמִּ֣יתthe Shunammite [woman]
hashunamitH7767 →8 times
הַזֹּ֔את<the> this
hazotH2063 →603 times
וַיִּקְרָאֶ֖הָand he summoned her
vaiyikraehaH7121 →733 times
וַתָּב֣וֹאand she came
vatavo'H935 →2568 times
אֵלָ֑יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
שְׂאִ֥יtake up
seiH5375 →656 times
בְנֵֽךְ׃son your
venekhH1121 →4930 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
Hebrews 11:35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
it leads to
- Acts 9:41
Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 4:27–37
When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul…
- 1 Kings 17:22–24
And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.
- Philippians 3:11
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
- Acts 24:15
and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
- Acts 9:41
Through
1 Kings 17:23Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 4:36–37
Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”
- Luke 7:15
And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
- 2 Kings 4:36–37
Through
Luke 7:15And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 13:21
Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of…
- 2 Kings 13:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 2 Kings
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.