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2 Kings 8:2

in 2 Kings 8

So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God; and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

KJV

And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

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This verse in 2 Kings 8

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
The country of the Philistines - the rich low grain-growing plain along the seacoast of Judah - was always a land of plenty compared with the highlands of Palestine. Moreover, if food failed there, it was easily imported by sea from the neighboring Egypt.

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 Awakening1 voice

And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God,.... Whose words she had reason to believe; she having a son given to her according to his word, and this restored to life, when dead, through his intercession: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines; which was not far from her native place, and where there was plenty of food, and she could have as free an exercise of her religion as in the idolatrous kingdom of Israel.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

she . . . sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years--Their territory was recommended to her from its contiguity to her usual residence; and now that this state had been so greatly reduced, there was less risk than formerly from the seductions of idolatry; and many of the Jews and Israelites were residing there.

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

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

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

14 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.

  • וַתָּ֙קָם֙and she arose

    vatakomH6965 →628 times

  • הָֽאִשָּׁ֔הthe woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • וַתַּ֕עַשׂand she did

    vataasH6213 →2628 times

  • כִּדְבַ֖רaccording to [the] word of

    kidvarH1697 →1440 times

  • אִ֣ישׁ[the] man of

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים<the> God

    haelohimH430 →2601 times

  • וַתֵּ֤לֶךְand she went

    vatelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • הִיא֙she

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • וּבֵיתָ֔הּand household her

    uveitahH1004 →2046 times

  • וַתָּ֥גָרand she sojourned

    vatagorH1481 →97 times

  • בְּאֶֽרֶץ־in [the] land of

    beeretz-H776 →2504 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 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

3 in all, six open

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

    1 Timothy 5:8

    If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

    it leads to

    • Galatians 6:10

      Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.

    • 2 Corinthians 12:14

      See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save…

    • Luke 11:11–13

      What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

    • Isaiah 58:7

      Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own…

    • Titus 1:16

      They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

  • Through

    Judges 3:3

    the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 13:3

      All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of…

    • Joshua 13:5

      the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.

    • Judges 14:4

      (Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

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 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; 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.

Read on in 2 Kings 8 →