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2 Kings 8:1

in 2 Kings 8

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for Jehovah hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

KJV

Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

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This verse in 2 Kings 8

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The famine here recorded, and the conversation of the monarch with Gehazi, must have been anterior to the events related in 2 Kings 5 since we may be sure that a king of Israel would not have entered into familiar conversation with a confirmed leper. The writer of Kings probably col ected the miracles of Elisha from various sources, and did not always arrange them chronologically. Here the link of connection is to be found in the nature of the miracle. As Elisha on one occasion prophesied plenty, so on another he had prophesied a famine.

This site's exposition

hath called for a famine

on 2 Kings 8:1-3

Elisha sends away the same woman whose son he raised to life in chapter four, and she obeys a bare command with no reason given beyond the word that the Lord hath called for a famine. Seven years is the whole span named to her, and she keeps a stranger's word in the land of the Philistines for every one of them. She returns at the exact end of the term, going up to the king himself rather than to Elisha, because the loss to be repaired now is her house and her land, not her son's life.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 8:1 · Written before 373.

proposed

"Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, 'Get up and go with your household.' " This is the Shunammite woman who had received Elisha in her home. And [the prophet] had taken care of her son too, who …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

The Lord, &c. - Hath appointed to bring a famine. This expression intimates, that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call or command. Seven years - A double time to the former famine under Elijah, which is but just, because they were still incorrigible under all the judgments of God, and the powerful ministry of Elisha.
Then spoke Elisha unto the woman (whose son he had restored to life),....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Then spake Elisha - As this is the relation of an event far past, the words should be translated, “But Elisha had spoken unto the woman whose son he had restored unto life; and the woman had arisen, and acted according to the saying of the man of God, and had gone with her family, and had sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.” What is mentioned in these two verses happened several years before the time specified in the third verse. See the observations at the end of the preceding chapter, 2Ki 7:17 (note).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Elisha spoke to the woman. Seven years [before]. 1 I.e., seven years before the incident described in this chapter. See above,:8-37.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 8:1:1, 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. 4 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

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.

  • וֶאֱלִישָׁ֡עand Elisha

    veelisha'H477 →58 times

  • דִּבֶּ֣רhe spoke

    diberH1696 →1141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָאִשָּׁה֩the woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • הֶחֱיָ֨הhe had restored to life

    hecheyahH2421 →282 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בְּנָ֜הּson her

    benahH1121 →4930 times

  • לֵאמֹ֗ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • ק֤וּמִיarise

    kumiH6965 →628 times

  • וּלְכִי֙and go

    ulekhiH1980 →1546 times

  • אַ֣תְּyou

    ʾatiH859 →1094 times

  • וּבֵיתֵ֔ךְand household your

    uveitekhH1004 →2046 times

  • וְג֖וּרִיand sojourn

    veguriH1481 →97 times

  • בַּאֲשֶׁ֣רin where

    baasherH834 →5497 times

  • תָּג֑וּרִיyou will sojourn

    taguriH1481 →97 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • קָרָ֤אhe has called

    kara'H7121 →733 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • לָֽרָעָ֔בfor <the> famine

    laraavH7458 →101 times

  • וְגַם־and also

    vegam-H1571 →769 times

  • בָּ֥אit will come

    ba'H935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָאָ֖רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • שֶׁ֥בַעseven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • שָׁנִֽים׃years

    shanimH8141 →877 times

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

Related verses

18 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.

Genesis 41:27Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine.6 worksRuth 1:1In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.5 worksPsalms 105:16He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.5 worksHaggai 1:11I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”5 works2 Kings 4:31–35Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”5 works2 Kings 4:38When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”5 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Genesis 12:10Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.4 works2 Kings 4:18And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.4 works1 Kings 18:2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria,3 works1 Kings 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”3 worksLeviticus 26:26When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.3 worksLuke 4:25But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.3 works2 Chronicles 6:28When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,3 works2 Kings 4:35Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.3 worksDeuteronomy 28:22–24The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.2 worksGenesis 41:32Moreover, because the dream was given to Pharaoh in two versions, the matter has been decreed by God, and He will carry it out shortly.2 worksPsalms 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.2 worksLeviticus 26:19–20I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,2 works

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

    Ruth 1:1

    In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 12:10

      Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

    • Genesis 26:1

      Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

    • Ezekiel 14:13

      “Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to…

  • Through

    Psalms 105:16

    He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.

    it leads to

    • Acts 7:11

      Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 4:16

      Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water…

    • Isaiah 3:1

      For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

    • Genesis 41:54

      the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt.

  • Through

    Genesis 12:10

    Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

    it leads to

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 8 →

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 8:1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Kings 8 →