2 Kings 4:42

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People

4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet¹ – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain.² Elisha³ said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.”

2 Kings 6:22

6:22 He replied, “Do not strike them down! You did not capture them with your sword or bow, so what gives you the right to strike them down?⁴ Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

2 Kings 7:2

7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man⁵ responded to the prophet,⁶ “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”⁷ Elisha⁸ said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”⁹

2 Kings 7:19

7:19 But the officer replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”¹⁰ Elisha¹¹ said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”¹²

2 Kings 18:27

18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you.¹³ His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”¹⁴

2 Kings 18:31

18:31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.¹⁵ Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

2 Kings 19:29

19:29 ¹⁶This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth:¹⁷ This year you will eat what grows wild,¹⁸ and next year¹⁹ what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.²⁰

¹tn Heb “man of God.”

²tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

³tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn Heb “Are [they] ones you captured with your sword or your bow (that) you can strike (them) down?”

⁵tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

⁶tn Heb “man of God.”

⁷tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

⁸tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

¹⁰tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.

¹¹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹²tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.

¹³tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

¹⁴tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.

¹⁵tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

¹⁶tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).

¹⁷tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.

¹⁸sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

¹⁹tn Heb “and in the second year.”

²⁰tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.