2 Kings 4:43
in 2 Kings 4But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha, “for this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And his servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus saith Jehovah, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.
KJV
And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.
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This verse in 2 Kings 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This miracle was a faint foreshadowing of our Lord’s far more marvelous feeding of thousands with even scantier materials. The resemblance is not only in the broad fact, but in various minute particulars, such as the distribution through the hands of others; the material, bread; the surprised question of the servant; and the evidence of superfluity in the fragments that were left (see the marginal references). As Elijah was a type of the Baptist, so Elisha was in many respects a type of our Blessed Lord.
This site's exposition
bread of the firstfruits, twenty
on 2 Kings 4:42-44
The bread is firstfruits, grain due by law to the priesthood (Lev 23:17, Num 18:12-13), rerouted here to feed a hungry company through the man of God, twenty barley loaves against a hundred men. Elisha's word, thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof, is fulfilled to the letter at v44, and the commentators, Farrar among them, have long set this scene beside Jesus feeding the five thousand and the four thousand as a likeness worth drawing, a reading the Gospels themselves never state but the shape invites: scant bread, a doubting servant, and food left over.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Here two miracles are proposed, which Elisha performed while he was among his disciples. He accomplished the first when he caused death to leave the pot, where, as they said, it had hidden. He performed the second when he nourished one hundred prophets with a …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And his servitor said,....
Christ's feeding his hearers was a miracle far beyond this; but both teach us that those who wait upon God in the way of duty may hope to be both protected and supplied by a particular care of divine Providence.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
They shall eat, and shall leave thereof--This was not a miracle of Elisha, but only a prediction of one by the word of the Lord. Thus it differed widely from those of Christ (Mt 15:37;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof - It was God, not the prophet, who fed one hundred men with these twenty loaves, etc. This is something like our Lord’s feeding the multitude miraculously. Indeed, there are many things in this chapter similar to facts in our Lord’s history: and this prophet might be more aptly considered a type of our Lord, than most of the other persons in the Scriptures who have been thus honored.
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מְשָׁ֣רְת֔וֹ | meshareto | servant his | H8334 → | 97 times |
| מָ֚ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֶתֵּ֣ן | ʾeten | will I put | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| זֶ֔ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| לִפְנֵ֖י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| מֵ֣אָה | meah | a hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| אִ֑ישׁ | ʾish | man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| תֵּ֤ן | ten | give [it] | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לָעָם֙ | laam | to the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְיֹאכֵ֔לוּ | veyokhelu | so they may eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹ֥ה | khoh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֛ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָכֹ֥ל | ʾakhol | they will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| וְהוֹתֵֽר׃ | vehoter | and they will have more than enough | H3498 → | 106 times |
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מְשָׁ֣רְת֔וֹservant his
mesharetoH8334 →97 times
מָ֚הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אֶתֵּ֣ןwill I put
ʾetenH5414 →2011 times
זֶ֔הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
לִפְנֵ֖י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
מֵ֣אָהa hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
אִ֑ישׁman
ʾishH376 →1663 times
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
תֵּ֤ןgive [it]
tenH5414 →2011 times
לָעָם֙to the people
laamH5971 →1873 times
וְיֹאכֵ֔לוּso they may eat
veyokheluH398 →810 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֹ֥הthus
khohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֛רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָכֹ֥לthey will eat
ʾakholH398 →810 times
וְהוֹתֵֽר׃and they will have more than enough
vehoterH3498 →106 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
John 6:9“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 4:42–44
Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
- Mark 6:38
“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
- Matthew 14:17
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
- Luke 9:13
But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
- Psalms 78:19
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
- 2 Kings 4:42–44
Through
Luke 9:13But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:24–25
One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- 2 Kings 4:42–43
Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
- John 6:5–9
When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?”
- Proverbs 11:24–25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 4:38; F. W. Farrar, The Second Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
