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2 Kings 5:8

in 2 Kings 5

Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

KJV

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

This verse in 2 Kings 5

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

there is a prophet in Israel

on 2 Kings 5:8-9

Elisha hears of the king's despair and sends word requiring nothing from the crown, only that Naaman come to him, so that the king may know a prophet answers where a king cannot. Naaman arrives in full state, horses and chariot, and stops at the door of a house rather than a palace, the first small demotion of a proud man before the cure even begins.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 5:10-11 · Written before 373.

proposed

Naaman was suffering from leprosy, and when he heard that a prophet who lived under the command of Jehoram, king of Israel, could cure him, he left and proceeded to the country of the healer and went to the house of Elisha, because he had …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): He shall know that there is a prophet in Israel (and it were sad with Israel if there were not), that there is a prophet in Israel who can do that which the king of Israel dares not attempt, which the prophets of Syria cannot pretend to.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, . . . let him come now to me--This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient.

quarantine:debris,scripture (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase; scripture-overlap:84%@v6-8

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Let him come now to me - Do not be afflicted; the matter belongs to me, as the prophet of the Most High; send him to me, and he shall know that I am such.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

He shall know ... Israel - namely, “That which thou (the king of Israel) appearest to have forgotten, that there is a prophet - a real Yahweh prophet - in Israel.”

The words behind it

26 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.

  • וַיְהִ֞יand it was

    vayhiH19613559 times

  • כִּשְׁמֹ֣עַ׀when heard

    kishmoa'H80851159 times

  • אֱלִישָׁ֣עElisha

    ʾelisha'H47758 times

  • אִישׁ־[the] man of

    ʾish-H3761663 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֗ים<the> God

    haelohimH4302601 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H35884482 times

  • קָרַ֤עhe had torn

    kara'H716763 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Israel

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • בְּגָדָ֔יוclothes his

    begadavH899217 times

  • וַיִּשְׁלַח֙and he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971845 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • לָ֥מָּה<to> why?

    lamahH4100752 times

  • קָרַ֖עְתָּdid you tear

    kara'taH716763 times

  • בְּגָדֶ֑יךָclothes your

    begadeikhaH899217 times

  • יָבֹֽא־let him come

    yavo'-H9352568 times

  • נָ֣אplease

    na'H4994404 times

  • אֵלַ֔יto me

    ʾelaiH4135510 times

  • וְיֵדַ֕עso he may know

    veyeda'H3045945 times

  • כִּ֛יthat

    kiH35884482 times

  • יֵ֥שׁthere

    yeshH3426140 times

  • נָבִ֖יא[is] a prophet

    navi'H5030314 times

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃in Israel

    beyisraelH34782507 times

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

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

    Ezekiel 2:5

    And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 33:33

      So when it comes to pass—and surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

    • Ezekiel 3:27

      But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him…

    • John 15:22

      If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

    • Matthew 10:12–15

      As you enter the home, greet its occupants.

  • Through

    2 Kings 5:7

    When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 2:6

      The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

    • 1 Kings 20:7

      Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please take note and see that this man is looking for trouble, for when he demanded my wives, my children,…

    • Genesis 30:2

      Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

    • Deuteronomy 32:39

      See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…

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.

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 5:10-11; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.