2 Kings 7:5
in 2 Kings 7So they arose at twilight and went to the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the outskirts of the camp, there was not a man to be found.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there.
KJV
And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
⋯
This verse in 2 Kings 7
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The twilight - The evening twilight (see 2Ki 7:9). The uttermost part of the camp - The extreme boundary of the camp toward the city, not its furthest or most distant portion. Compare 2Ki 7:8.
This site's exposition
there was no man there
on 2 Kings 7:5-7
The lepers reach the camp at the same hour they set out, the evening twilight, and find it empty of any watch to surrender to. The text names the cause directly: the Lord made the host of Syria hear a noise of chariots and horses, a great host they could not see, and their own guess turns it into hired armies of the Hittites and of Egypt. One chapter earlier Elisha's servant saw a mountain full of real horses and chariots of fire around Dothan at 6:17; here the enemy hears an army that was never assembled at all, and the same God stands behind both the seen host and the imagined one. They flee, leaving tents, horses, asses, and the camp exactly as it stood, saving nothing but their lives.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), and so no time was lost. How they reasoned themselves into a resolution to bring tidings of this to the city. They feasted in the first tent they came to (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians,...., The dusk of the evening, or the evening twilight, as appears from 2Ki 7:9, and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria; not the further part of it, but the edge or border of it nearest to them: behold, there was no man there; no sentinel or guard, which they expected, and to whom they would have surrendered themselves.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
they rose up in the twilight--that is, the evening twilight (2Ki 7:12). the uttermost part of the camp of Syria--that is, the extremity nearest the city.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
THE story of four leprous men inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel—is it not amazing? No, it is not amazing for the Bible. If you were to take out of the Scriptures all the stories that have to do with poor afflicted men and women, what a very small book the Bible would become, especially if together with the stories, you removed all the Psalms of the sorrowful, all the promises for the distressed and all the passages which belong to the children of grief!
THE story of four leprous men inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel—is it not amazing? No, it is not amazing for the Bible. If you were to take out of the Scriptures all the stories that have to do with poor afflicted men and women, what a very small book the Bible would become, especially if together with the stories, you removed all the Psalms of the sorrowful, all the promises for the distressed and all the passages which belong to the children of grief! This Book, indeed, for the most part is made up of the annals of the poor and despised! Think for a minute what space is occupied with the life of the man who was separated from his brothers, sold for a slave and put in prison in Egypt! What a large part of the Bible is occupied by the writings of one who was a babe exposed on the Nile and afterwards kept a flock for 40 years in the wilderness! We could not part with the account of the man who lost all his property and children in one day—and sat among the ashes, covered with sore boils. We could not spare the story of the two widows who came together empty-handed from the land of Moab, one of whom went to glean in the fields of Boaz. Nor the history of that woman of a sorrowful spirit and her little boy, around whom the hope of Israel gathered in the dark days of Eli's feeble rule. Page after page of Holy Writ is enriched with the experience of that youth who was taken from tending the flock to become the champion of his country and was afterwards hunted like a partridge upon the mountain by the envious king. We could not give up the history of the Prophet of sorrow, nor of the fugitive who was cast into the sea, nor even the minor incidents of the widow of Sarepta and her barrel of meal—and the Prophet's widow whose creditor was about to seize her children for her husband's debts. Nor do lepers fall behind.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The uttermost part of the camp - Where the Syrian advanced guards should have been.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּק֣וּמוּ | vaiyakumu | and they arose | H6965 → | 628 times |
| בַנֶּ֔שֶׁף | vaneshef | at <the> twilight | H5399 → | |
| לָב֖וֹא | lavo' | to go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מַחֲנֵ֣ה | machaneh | [the] camp of | H4264 → | 215 times |
| אֲרָ֑ם | ʾaram | Aram | H758 → | 143 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| קְצֵה֙ | ketzeh | [the] edge of | H7097 → | 97 times |
| מַחֲנֵ֣ה | machaneh | [the] camp of | H4264 → | 215 times |
| אֲרָ֔ם | ʾaram | Aram | H758 → | 143 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֥ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| אֵֽין־ | ʾein- | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| שָׁ֖ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| אִֽישׁ׃ | ʾish | [was] anyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
וַיָּק֣וּמוּand they arose
vaiyakumuH6965 →628 times
בַנֶּ֔שֶׁףat <the> twilight
vaneshefH5399 →
לָב֖וֹאto go
lavo'H935 →2568 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מַחֲנֵ֣ה[the] camp of
machanehH4264 →215 times
אֲרָ֑םAram
ʾaramH758 →143 times
וַיָּבֹ֗אוּand they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
עַד־to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
קְצֵה֙[the] edge of
ketzehH7097 →97 times
מַחֲנֵ֣ה[the] camp of
machanehH4264 →215 times
אֲרָ֔םAram
ʾaramH758 →143 times
וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
אֵֽין־there not
ʾein-H369 →789 times
שָׁ֖םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
אִֽישׁ׃[was] anyone
ʾishH376 →1663 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
Deuteronomy 28:7The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 22:38–41
I pursued my enemies and destroyed them; I did not turn back until they were consumed.
- Leviticus 26:7–8
You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.
- Psalms 89:23
I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.
- 2 Chronicles 32:21–22
and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in…
- 2 Chronicles 19:4
Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
- 2 Samuel 22:38–41
Through
Deuteronomy 32:30How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:8
Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
- Joshua 23:10
One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.
- Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a…
- Leviticus 26:8
About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1903: “Who Found It Out?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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.
