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2 Kings 7:10

in 2 Kings 7

So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So they came and called unto the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they were.

KJV

So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.

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This verse in 2 Kings 7

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
They called unto the porter ... and told them - The word “porter” is used like our “guard” and the meaning here is, not that the lepers called to any particular individual, but that they roused the body of men who were keeping guard at one of the gates.

This site's exposition

called unto the porter of the city

on 2 Kings 7:10-12

Word passes in three quick steps: the lepers call to the porter of the city, the porter calls the porters, and the king's house hears it from within. The king's first reaction is not faith but calculation, a trap set by starving Syrians hiding in the field to catch Israel outside the walls once hunger drives the people out. Matthew Henry reads the suspicion as the mark of a mind unstable in all its ways, expecting to receive nothing good from God even when the report is true. The same king who tore his robes and blamed Elisha for the famine one chapter earlier still cannot trust deliverance when it is standing at the gate.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

So they came and called to the porter of the city,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were--The uniform arrangement of encampments in the East is to place the tents in the center, while the cattle are picketed all around, as an outer wall of defense; and hence the lepers describe the cattle as the first objects they saw.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

As they were. As they were full at the beginning; they did not take out what was in them.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 7:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

27 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.

  • וַיָּבֹ֗אוּand they went

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • וַֽיִּקְרְאוּ֮and they called out

    vaiyikreuH7121 →733 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • שֹׁעֵ֣ר[the] gatekeeper of

    shoerH7778 →

  • הָעִיר֒the city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וַיַּגִּ֤ידוּand they told

    vaiyagiduH5046 →370 times

  • לָהֶם֙to them

    lahem

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • בָּ֚אנוּwe went

    banuH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • מַחֲנֵ֣ה[the] camp of

    machanehH4264 →215 times

  • אֲרָ֔םAram

    ʾaramH758 →143 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • אֵֽין־there not

    ʾein-H369 →789 times

  • שָׁ֛םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • אִ֖ישׁ[was] anyone

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • וְק֣וֹלand [the] sound of

    vekolH6963 →506 times

  • אָדָ֑םanyone

    ʾadamH120 →551 times

  • כִּ֣יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אִם־except

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • הַסּ֤וּסthe horse[s]

    hasusH5483 →140 times

  • אָסוּר֙tied up

    ʾasurH631 →72 times

  • וְהַחֲמ֣וֹרand the donkey[s]

    vehachamorH2543 →96 times

  • אָס֔וּרtied up

    ʾasurH631 →72 times

  • וְאֹהָלִ֖יםand tents

    veohalimH168 →345 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁר־[are] just as

    kaasher-H834 →5497 times

  • הֵֽמָּה׃they [were]

    hemahH1992 →553 times

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

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Kings 7:6–7For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”2 worksMark 13:34–35It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.2 worksPsalms 127:1Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.2 works2 Kings 7:11The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported to the king’s household.2 works2 Samuel 18:26the watchman saw another man running, and he called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one also brings good news,” said the king.2 works2 Kings 8:4Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”2 works

The walk

5 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

    Psalms 127:1

    Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 16:9

      A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:7

      So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

    • Proverbs 21:30–31

      There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:9–15

      For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

    • Psalms 33:16–18

      No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

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.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 7 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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.

Read on in 2 Kings 7 →