2 Kings 7:6

Contextual Overview

³Now four men with a skin disease were at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? ³ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? ³ And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? ³Elisha Promises Food But Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord : thus says the Lord , Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria." Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, "If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" But he said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it." Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? ³ There were four men with a skin disease at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, "Why do we sit here until we die? ³ Now four men with a skin disease were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, "Why are we just sitting here waiting to die? ³Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the [city's] gate; and they said to one another, "Why should we sit here until we die? ³ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? ³ Nowe there were foure leprous men at the entring in of the gate: and they saide one to an other, Why sitte we here vntill we die? ³Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, "Why do we sit here until we die?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the Lord: 2 Kings 3:22, 2 Kings 3:23-27, 2 Kings 19:7, 2 Samuel 5:24, Job 15:21, Psalms 14:5, Jeremiah 20:3, Jeremiah 20:4, Ezekiel 10:5, Revelation 6:15, Revelation 6:16, Revelation 9:9

the kingss of the Hittites: 1 Kings 10:29

the kings of the Egyptians: 2 Chronicles 12:2, 2 Chronicles 12:3, Isaiah 31:1, Isaiah 36:9

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:27 - my fear Leviticus 26:36 - I will send Deuteronomy 2:25 - General Joshua 2:9 - your terror Judges 1:26 - the land Judges 4:15 - General Judges 7:14 - into his hand Judges 7:21 - all the host 1 Samuel 14:15 - there was trembling 1 Kings 20:20 - the Syrians 2 Kings 7:9 - this day 2 Kings 7:10 - no man there 1 Chronicles 14:15 - when thou shalt hear 2 Chronicles 14:14 - the fear 2 Chronicles 20:29 - the fear Job 18:11 - to his feet Psalms 33:17 - An horse Psalms 48:5 - were Psalms 53:5 - There Psalms 91:5 - terror Proverbs 28:1 - wicked Isaiah 7:2 - And his heart Isaiah 10:3 - where Isaiah 37:7 - I will Jeremiah 46:5 - fled apace Jeremiah 46:21 - her hired Jeremiah 49:5 - I will Ezekiel 1:24 - as the noise Zechariah 14:14 - and the

Cross-References

Genesis 5:32
Noach was five hundred years old, and Noach became the father of Shem, Ham, and Yefet.

Genesis 5:32
And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
When Noah was five hundred years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
Now after Noah was five hundred years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
And Noah was fiue hundreth yeere olde. And Noah begate Shem, Ham and Iapheth.

Genesis 5:32
And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was five hundred years old, he had three sons and named them Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host,.... Or of many armies, as the Targum; either in the air by the ministry of angels; or the Lord so wrought upon their imagination, that they fancied they heard such noises; or he caused such noises in their ears:

and they said one to another, lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites; one of the nations of the Canaanites, and may be here put for the whole of those that remained, and who lived upon the borders of the land of Israel; though Josephus y has it, the kings of the isles; that is, of Chittim, see Jeremiah 2:10

and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us; Egypt being now divided into petty kingdoms; or else the governors of the several nomes or districts of it are here meant: for the king of Israel to hire these kings was very unlikely in his present circumstances; but those unreasonable things, in their panic, their imaginations suggested to them.

y Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4.) sect. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is a matter of no importance whether we say that the miracle by which God now performed deliverance for Samaria consisted in a mere illusion of the sense of hearing (compare 2 Kings 6:19-20); or whether there was any objective reality in the sound (compare the marginal references).

The king of Israel hath hired - The swords of mercenaries had been employed by the nations bordering on Palestine as early as the time of David 2Sa 10:6; 1 Chronicles 19:6-7. Hence, the supposition of the Syrians was far from improbable.

The kings of the Hittites - The Hittites, who are found first in the south Genesis 23:7, then in the center of Judea Joshua 11:3, seem to have retired northward after the occupation of Palestine by the Israelites. They are found among the Syrian enemies of the Egyptians in the monuments of the 19th dynasty (about 1300 B.C.), and appear at that time to have inhabited the valley of the Upper Orontes. In the early Assyrian monuments they form a great confederacy, as the most powerful people of northern Syria, dwelling on both banks of the Euphrates, while at the same time there is a second confederacy of their race further to the south, which seems to inhabit the anti-Lebanon between Hamath and Damascus. These southern Hittites are in the time of Benhadad and Hazael a powerful people, especially strong in chariots; and generally assist the Syrians against the Assyrians. The Syrians seem now to have imagined that these southern Hittites had been hired by Jehoram.

The kings of the Egyptians - This is a remarkable expression, since Egypt elsewhere throughout Scripture appears always as a centralised monarchy under a single ruler. The probability is that the principal Pharaoh had a prince or princes associated with him on the throne, a practice not uncommon in Egypt. The period, which is that of the 22nd dynasty, is an obscure one, on which the monuments throw but little light.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 7:6. The Lord had made the - Syrians to hear a noise — This threw them into confusion; they imagined that they were about to be attacked by powerful auxiliaries, which the king of Israel had hired against them.