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mannafest.faith

2 Kings 6:18

in 2 Kings 6

As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

KJV

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

This verse in 2 Kings 6

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Smite this people - with blindness - Confound their sight so that they may not know what they see, and so mistake one place for another.

This site's exposition

Smite this people, I pray thee

on 2 Kings 6:18-20

Elisha prays a second time, now for blindness rather than sight, and the army that came to take one prophet is led wherever he chooses to lead it. He tells the blinded Syrians this is neither the way nor the city, technically true and aimed at his own purpose, and marches the whole host into Samaria before praying a third time to open their eyes. The men who came by night to surround Dothan wake to find themselves standing disarmed in the middle of the enemy capital.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On the Duties of the Clergy 1.29.140 · Written before 397.

proposed

If, then, justice is binding, even in war, how much more ought we to observe it in time of peace. Such favor the prophet showed to those who came to seize him. We read that the king of Syria had sent his army to lie in wait for him, for he had learned that it was Elisha who had made known to all his plans and consultations. And Gehazi, the prophet's servant, seeing the army, began to fear that his life was in danger. But the prophet said to him, "Do not fear, for they who are with us are more than they who are with them." And when the prophet asked that the eyes of his servant might be opened, they were opened. Then Gehazi saw the whole mountain full of horse and chariots round about Elisha. As they came down to him the prophet says, "Strike, O God, the army of Syria with blindness." And this prayer being granted, he says to the Syrians, "Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." Then they saw Elisha, whom they were endeavoring to lay hold of, and seeing him they could not hold him fast. It is clear from this that faith and justice should be observed even in war; and that it could not but be a disgraceful thing if faith were violated.

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 6:18 · Written before 373.

proposed

Elisha prayed before the Lord and said, "strike this people with blindness." And he struck them with blindness according to the words of Elisha. Ben-hadad, king of the Arameans, sent a large army to surround the city of Dothan and ordered them to arrest Elisha, …

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1.5 · Written before 397.

proposed

But, as many delight in warfare, which is the most glorious, to bring a battle to an end by the strength of a great army or by merits before God alone? Elisha rested in one place while the king of Syria waged a great war against the people of our ancestors, and was adding to its terrors by various treacherous plans and was endeavoring to catch them in an ambush. But the prophet found out all their preparations, and being by the grace of God present everywhere in mental vigor, he told the thoughts of their enemies to his countrymen and warned them of what places to beware. And when this was known to the king of Syria, he sent an army and shut in the prophet. Elisha prayed and caused all of them to be struck with blindness and made those who had come to besiege him enter Samaria as captives.

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 10 · Written before 397.

proposed

Elsewhere, also, that is, in the books of Kings we read that Elisha was in Samaria, and suddenly an army of Syrians surrounded and set on him. Gehazi saw them and said to his master, "O master, what shall we do?" And Elisha the prophet said, "Do not fear, for there are more with us than with them." And he prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of Gehazi. And his eyes were opened, and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots around Elisha. And Elisha prayed that God would strike them with blindness.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

9 For this twofold judgment Christ came into this world, that those who see not might see, and that those who see might be made blind ( John ix. 39 ), a savour of life to some, of death to others.
2 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And when they came down to him,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

They came down to him - The Syrians, who had been encamped on rising ground opposite the hill of Dothan, now descended and drew near to the city. The blindness with which they were smitten was not real - blindness actual loss of sight - but a state of illusion in which a man sees things otherwise than as they are (compare 2Ki 6:20).

The words behind it

17 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.

  • וַיֵּרְדוּ֮and they came down

    vaiyereduH3381381 times

  • אֵלָיו֒to him

    ʾelavH4135510 times

  • וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨לand he prayed

    vaiyitpalelH641984 times

  • אֱלִישָׁ֤עElisha

    ʾelisha'H47758 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • וַיֹּאמַ֔רand he said

    vaiyomarH5595305 times

  • הַךְ־strike

    hakh-H5221499 times

  • נָ֥אplease

    na'H4994404 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַגּוֹי־the nation

    hagoy-H1471561 times

  • הַזֶּ֖ה<the> this

    hazehH20881180 times

  • בַּסַּנְוֵרִ֑יםwith <the> sudden blindness

    basanverimH5575

  • וַיַּכֵּ֥םand he struck them

    vaiyakemH5221499 times

  • בַּסַּנְוֵרִ֖יםwith <the> sudden blindness

    basanverimH5575

  • כִּדְבַ֥רaccording to [the] word of

    kidvarH16971440 times

  • אֱלִישָֽׁע׃Elisha

    ʾelisha'H47758 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

    John 12:40

    “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 6:10

      Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

    • Matthew 13:13–15

      This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

    • Luke 8:10

      He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing,…

    • Mark 4:12

      so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’”

    • Isaiah 57:18–19

      I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

  • Through

    John 9:39

    Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”

    it leads to

    • John 3:19

      And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

    • John 12:46

      I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.

    • Acts 26:18

      to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

A Famine in Samaria — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
A Famine in Samaria — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 1.29.140; Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1.5; Ambrose of Milan, ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 10; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 6:18; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.