2 Kings · WEB-C
2 Kings
7
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
Elisha said, “Hear the LORD’s word. The LORD says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” See also: Joshua 3:5Exodus 16:12Ezekiel 37:4Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” See also: Genesis 7:11Genesis 18:12-14Malachi 3:10Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? See also: Leviticus 13:45-46Numbers 5:2-42 Kings 7:4If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” See also: Jeremiah 14:18Esther 4:16Luke 15:17-19They rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there. See also: Deuteronomy 28:7Leviticus 27:26Ezekiel 12:6-7For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.” See also: 2 Samuel 5:24Isaiah 31:11 Kings 10:29Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. See also: Psalms 48:4-6Proverbs 28:1Proverbs 21:1When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. See also: Joshua 7:21Matthew 13:44Matthew 25:18Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.” See also: Isaiah 52:7Philippians 2:4Isaiah 41:27So they came and called to the city gatekeepers; and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” See also: Mark 13:34-35Psalms 127:12 Kings 7:6-7Then the gatekeepers called out and told it to the king’s household within. The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’” See also: Joshua 8:42 Kings 6:25-29One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.” See also: 2 Kings 5:13Jeremiah 14:182 Kings 7:4Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. See also: Philippians 3:7-8Ezekiel 18:31Esther 1:7The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the LORD’s word. See also: 2 Kings 7:1Isaiah 33:23Isaiah 33:4The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. See also: 2 Kings 6:322 Kings 7:22 Kings 9:33It happened as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria;” See also: Genesis 18:142 Kings 7:1-22 Kings 6:32and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” See also: 2 Kings 7:2It happened like that to him, for the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died. See also: Numbers 20:12Hebrews 3:18-19Isaiah 7:9
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)10 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
2 Kings 7:1
Ver. 1. A stater. It is the same as a sicle or shekel. Ch. --- As it is in Heb. and Sept. --- Bushel, or
"measure," H. above 9 pints. --- Gate, where the market place commonly was.
C.
↑ 12 Kings 7:2
Ver. 2. Lords. Heb. shalish, "an officer" of the first rank, Ex. xiv. 7. Sept.
tristates, which Josephus explains of one who "commands a third part of the army." C. --- Flood-gates. If corn should fall with the same abundance as water does from the cataracts of the Nile; or, Heb. "if the Lord should make windows," &c. to pour it down, (C.) could it possibly be so cheap? M. ---
Thereof. Thus his incredulity was punished, v. 17. Salien. --- Reason must not pretend to reach the power of God, but ought to believe what he says. W.
↑ 22 Kings 7:3
Ver. 3. Lepers. They were excluded from society, though the laws of religion were ill observed in Israel. The Rabbins say, these four were Giezi and his three sons. C. --- But this is without foundation, (H.) as Giezi was not yet a leper. C. viii. 5. --- Salien places that judgment two years later. H.
↑ 32 Kings 7:5
Ver. 5. Evening. Heb. "twilight." --- First part, where the advanced guard should be, or the nearest tents.
↑ 52 Kings 7:6
Ver. 6. Hethites. Sept. "Chetteans." Joseph. "the islands" of Cyprus, &c. He seems to have read Cethim in the text, as they peopled Cyprus. C. --- See Jer.
ii. 10. M. --- These Hethites seem to have dwelt in the stony Arabia, (Judg. i.
26.) or in Syria. H. --- Solomon had connexions with them, 3 K. x. 29. C. ---
Angels made the noise of a mighty army, and probably appeared, as they had done to Giezi. C. vi. 17. T.
↑ 62 Kings 7:9
Ver. 9. Crime, and punished. Heb. "iniquity shall find us." Citizens are bound to give notice of what may tend to the common good. C. --- Court. Not in person, but by means of others. M.
↑ 92 Kings 7:10
Ver. 10. Tied to the mangers, or rather by the hind-legs, as it is still the custom in the East.
Xenop. Anab. iii. Martyr legat. Babyl.
↑ 102 Kings 7:13
Ver. 13. Consumed, for food. M. --- Sept. "Let them take five of the horses left.
Those which are left here, behold they are to all the remaining multitude of Israel, and let us send them." They have read in a different manner from the present Heb. which has, "Let them take five of the horses there remaining; behold they are like all the multitude of Israel who are lost; let us send them."
Arab. "Let us send thither five horsemen who remain; if they escape, we shall look upon them as those Israelites who continue alive; if they perish, they well be numbered with the other Israelites who are dead." Both horses and horsemen were dreadfully lean, and they could not expect a better fate than those already consumed by famine. C. --- The truth of the report ought at least to be fully ascertained. By following the timid advice of the king no prospect of redress appeared. At last the king consented to send two horsemen. H. Sept. v.
14. Jun. &c.
↑ 132 Kings 7:14
Ver. 14. Horses. Heb. "chariot horses," or two chariots with (each) two horses, as it was customary to go to war, and to travel on chariots. C.
↑ 142 Kings 7:17
Ver. 17. Gate, to prevent confusion and accidents, (Josephus) or to guard against any return of the enemy. M.
↑ 17License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses