Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

2 Kings 4:20

The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Children;   Elisha;   Miracles;   Shunammite;   Women;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Cares of Motherhood;   Children;   Family;   Home;   Labour;   Love;   Maternal Love;   Motherhood, Cares of;   Mothers;   Parental;   Parents;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Shunammite;   Stories for Children;   Woman's;   Women;   Work, Women's;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diseases;   Parents;   Sun, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Gehazi;   Shunem;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Elisha;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disease;   Heal, Health;   Miracle;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hospitality;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Shunem;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Diseases;   Elisha;   Furniture;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Lap (Noun);   Noon;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Resurrection;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gehazi;   Marriage;   Medicine;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gehazi ;   Shunammite ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elisha;   Gehazi;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Eli'sha;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gehazi;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So he picked him up and took him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon and then died.
Hebrew Names Version
When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
King James Version
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
English Standard Version
And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.
New Century Version
The servant took him to his mother, and he lay on his mother's lap until noon. Then he died.
New English Translation
So he picked him up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap until noon and then died.
Amplified Bible
When he had carried and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
New American Standard Bible
When he had carried him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And hee tooke him & brought him to his mother, and hee sate on her knees till noone, and dyed.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then he carried him and brought him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
Complete Jewish Bible
When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he lay on her lap until noon; and then he died.
Darby Translation
And he carried him, and brought him to his mother; and he sat on her knees till noon, and died.
Easy-to-Read Version
The servant took the boy to his mother. The boy sat on his mother's lap until noon. Then he died.
George Lamsa Translation
And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died.
Good News Translation
The servant carried the boy back to his mother, who held him in her lap until noon, at which time he died.
Lexham English Bible
So they carried him and brought him to his mother; he sat on her lap until noon and then died.
Literal Translation
And he carried him, and brought him to his mother. And he sat on her knees until noon, and died.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he toke him, and broughte him to his mother: and she set him vpon hir lappe vntyll ye noone daye, & the he dyed.
American Standard Version
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
Bible in Basic English
And he took him in to his mother, and she took him on her knees and kept him there till the middle of the day, when his life went from him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when he had taken him & brought him to his mother, he sate on her knees till noone, and then dyed.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
King James Version (1611)
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, hee sate on her knees till noone, and then died.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he carried him to his mother, and he lay upon her knees till noon, and died.
English Revised Version
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
Berean Standard Bible
After the servant had picked him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne he hadde take, and hadde brouyt hym to his modir, sche settide hym on hir knees `til to myddai, and he was deed.
Young's Literal Translation
and he beareth him, and bringeth him in unto his mother, and he sitteth on her knees till the noon, and dieth.
Update Bible Version
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
Webster's Bible Translation
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and [then] died.
World English Bible
When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
New King James Version
When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
New Living Translation
So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.
New Life Bible
When he was brought to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon. Then he died.
New Revised Standard
He carried him and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when he had carried him, and brought him in unto his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sat him on her knees, until noon, and then he died.
Revised Standard Version
And when he had lifted him, and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.
THE MESSAGE
The servant took him in his arms and carried him to his mother. He lay on her lap until noon and died.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.

Contextual Overview

18 One day while the boy was still young, he was out in the fields with his father, where the workers were harvesting the crops. 19 Suddenly he shouted, "My head hurts. It hurts a lot!" "Carry him back to his mother," the father said to his servant. 20 The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead. 21 She carried him upstairs to Elisha's room and laid him across the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her. 22 The woman called to her husband, "I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly." 23 "Why do you need to see him today?" her husband asked. "It's not the Sabbath or time for the New Moon Festival." "That's all right," she answered. 24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Let's go. And don't slow down unless I tell you to." 25 She left at once for Mount Carmel to talk with Elisha. When Elisha saw her coming, he said, "Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem. 26 Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family." "Everything is fine," she answered Gehazi. 27 But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet. Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, "Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his mother: Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 66:13, Luke 7:12

and then died: Genesis 22:2, Genesis 37:3, Genesis 37:5, 1 Kings 17:17, Ezekiel 24:16-18, Luke 2:35, John 11:3, John 11:5, John 11:14

Cross-References

Genesis 4:2
Later she had another son and named him Abel. Abel became a sheep farmer, but Cain farmed the land.
Genesis 4:4
and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord . He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:5
but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings.
Genesis 4:9
Afterwards the Lord asked Cain, "Where is Abel?" "How should I know?" he answered. "Am I supposed to look after my brother?"
Genesis 4:10
Then the Lord said: Why have you done this terrible thing? You killed your own brother, and his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you.
Genesis 4:11
And so, I'll put you under a curse. Because you killed Abel and made his blood run out on the ground, you will never be able to farm the land again.
Genesis 4:12
If you try to farm the land, it won't produce anything for you. From now on, you'll be without a home, and you'll spend the rest of your life wandering from place to place.
Genesis 25:27
As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob settled down and became a shepherd.
John 8:44
Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.
Hebrews 11:9
Because Abraham had faith, he lived as a stranger in the promised land. He lived there in a tent, and so did Isaac and Jacob, who were later given the same promise.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother,.... The lad led him home, and delivered him to his mother:

he sat on her knees till noon, and then died; out of her great affection, she took him on her knees, and laid his head in her bosom to sooth the pain, and in this posture he continued until the middle of the day, and then expired; by which it appears it was in the morning when he went into the field, and when the sun was pretty high, and beat strongly on him; which, it may be, produced a fever, and which issued in his death.


 
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