2 Kings 6:27

Complete Jewish Bible

He said, "If Adonai isn't helping you, how do you expect me to help you? There isn't any grain, and there isn't any wine."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”

Hebrew Names Version
He said, If the LORD doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?

King James Version
And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

English Standard Version
And he said, "If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?"

New Century Version
The king said, "If the Lord doesn't help you, how can I? Can I get help from the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

New English Translation
He replied, "No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty."

Amplified Bible
He said, "If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I get you help? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

New American Standard Bible
But he said, "If the LORD does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he said, Seeing the Lord doeth not succour thee, howe shoulde I helpe thee with the barne, or with the wine presse?

Legacy Standard Bible
He said, "If Yahweh does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

Contemporary English Version
"Let the Lord help you!" the king said. "Do you think I have grain or wine to give you?"

Darby Translation
And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence should I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?

Easy-to-Read Version
The king of Israel said, "If the Lord does not help you, how can I help you? I cannot give you grain from the threshing floor or wine from the winepress."

George Lamsa Translation
And he said to her, Let the LORD help you; whence shall I help you? Out of the threshing floor or out of the wine press?

Good News Translation
He replied, "If the Lord won't help you, what help can I provide? Do I have any wheat or wine?

Lexham English Bible
He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. How can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?"

Literal Translation
And he said, If Jehovah does not save you, from where shall I save you? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winevat?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He sayde: Yf the LORDE helpe the not, wherwith shal I helpe the? with ye barne or with the wyne presse?

American Standard Version
And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?

Bible in Basic English
And he said, If the Lord does not give you help, where am I to get help for you? from the grain-floor or the grape-crusher?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
He sayde: If the Lorde do not succour thee, wherwith can I helpe thee? with the barne, or with the wine presse?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said: 'If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshingfloor, or out of the winepress?'

King James Version (1611)
And he said, If the Lord do not helpe thee, whence shall I helpe thee? out of the barne floore, or out of the wine presse?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he said to her, Unless the Lord help thee, whence shall I help thee? from the corn-floor, or from the wine-press?

English Revised Version
And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing–floor, or out of the winepress?

Berean Standard Bible
He answered, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Which seide, Nai, the Lord saue thee; wherof may Y saue thee? of cornfloor, ethir of pressour? And the kyng seide to hir, What wolt thou to thee?

Young's Literal Translation
And he saith, `Jehovah doth not save thee -- whence do I save thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine-vat?'

Update Bible Version
And he said, If Yahweh does not help you, from where shall I help you? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine press?

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said, If the LORD doth not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn-floor, or out of the wine-press?

World English Bible
He said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?

New King James Version
And he said, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

New Living Translation
He answered, "If the Lord doesn't help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you."

New Life Bible
And he said, "If the Lord does not help you, from where can I help you? From the grain-floor, or from the grape-crusher?"

New Revised Standard
He said, "No! Let the Lord help you. How can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he said - If Yahweh do not save thee, whence should I save thee? out of the threshing-floor or out of the wine-press?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:

Revised Standard Version
And he said, "If the LORD will not help you, whence shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

THE MESSAGE
He answered, "If God won't help you, where on earth can I go for help? To the granary? To the dairy?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He said, "If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

Contextual Overview

²⁴ But some time afterwards, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up and laid siege to Shomron. ²⁵ At the time, there was a severe famine in Shomron; and they maintained their siege until a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver and half a pint of doves' dung for five pieces of silver. ²⁶ As the king of Isra'el was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord, king!" ²⁷ He said, "If Adonai isn't helping you, how do you expect me to help you? There isn't any grain, and there isn't any wine." ²⁸ Then the king asked her, "What's troubling you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, ‘Give me your son, so that we can eat him today; and we'll eat my son tomorrow.' ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, so that we can eat him,' but she has hidden her son." ³⁰ When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. At the time, he was passing by on the wall; and when the people looked, they saw him there with sackcloth against his skin. ³¹ Then he said, "May God do terrible things to me, and worse ones too, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat remains on his body by day's end." ³² Elisha was sitting in his house, and the leaders were sitting there with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door and keep it shut against him. You can hear his master's footsteps following right behind him!" ³³ While he was still speaking, the messenger arrived with this message from the king: "Here, this evil is from Adonai . Why should I wait for Adonai any longer?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

If the Lord: etc. or, Let not the Lord save thee

whence: Psalms 60:11, Psalms 62:8, Psalms 118:8, Psalms 118:9, Psalms 124:1-3, Psalms 127:1, Psalms 146:3, Isaiah 2:2, Jeremiah 17:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:16 - It is not Numbers 18:27 - the corn Deuteronomy 28:8 - storehouses 1 Samuel 28:16 - Wherefore 2 Kings 4:2 - What shall I Job 21:4 - if it were Psalms 107:12 - and there Ecclesiastes 10:13 - beginning

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?.... Mistaking her meaning, as if she prayed him to relieve her hunger; the margin of our Bible is, "let not the Lord save thee"; and so some understand it as a wish that she might perish; and so Josephus o, that being wroth, he cursed her in the name of God:

out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress? when neither of them afforded anything; no corn was to be had from the one, nor wine from the other, no, not for his own use, and therefore how could he help her out of either?

o Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If the Lord do not help - The translation in the text is decidedly better than the marginal rendering. Some prefer to render - “Nay ... let Jehovah help thee. Whence, shall I help thee?”

Out of the barnfloor ... - The king means that both were empty - that he had no longer any food in store; and therefore could not help the woman. Compare Hosea 9:2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 27. If the Lord do not help thee — Some read this as an imprecation, May God save thee not! how can I save thee?