2 Kings 4:3

Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּ֗אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Go	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
borrow	שַׁאֲלִי sha.'a.li-	H7592	to inquire · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
vessels	כֵּלִים֙ ke.Lim	H3627	something prepared · noun, common masculine plural absolute
abroad	הַח֔וּץ ha.Chutz	H2351	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
neighbours	שְׁכֵנָ֑יִךְ shikh.ni.khe	H7934	a resident · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
empty	רֵקִ֖ים re.Kim	H7386	empty · adjective, masculine plural absolute
vessels	כֵּלִ֥ים ke.Lim	H3627	something prepared · noun, common masculine plural absolute
few	תַּמְעִֽיטִי tam.'I.ti	H4591	properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 2:7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
Psalms 81:10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
2 Kings 3:16 And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.
2 Kings 13:18-19 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 4:1-7

Elisha's miracles were for use, not for show; this recorded here was an act of real charity. Such also were the miracles of Christ, not only great wonders, but great favours to those for whom they were wrought. God magnifies his goodness with his power. I. Elisha readily receives a poor widow's complaint. She was a prophet's widow; to whom therefore should she apply, but to him that was a father to the sons of the prophets, and concerned himself in the welfare of their families? It seems, the prophets had wives as well as the priests, though prophecy went not by entail, as the priesthood did. Marriage is honourable in all, and not inconsistent with the most sacred professions. Now, by the co…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 4:2

a pot--or cruet of oil. This comprising her whole stock of domestic utensils, he directs her to borrow empty vessels not a few; then, secluding herself with her children, [the widow] was to pour oil from her cruse into the borrowed vessels, and, selling the oil, discharge the debt, and then maintain herself and family with the remainder.

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 4:2

Save a pot of oil - Oil was used as aliment, for anointing the body after bathing, and to anoint the dead. Some think that this pot of oil was what this widow had kept for her burial: see Mat 26:12.

John Gill on 2 Kings 4:3

Then he said, go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours,.... For he perceived that she had none: even empty vessels; which they might more readily lend her: borrow not a few; but as many as she could get; the prophet, under a divine impulse, was directed to say this to her, foreseeing, by a spirit of prophecy, that a large quantity of oil would be given her.

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 4:1-7

From 2 Kings 4 through 2 Kings 8:6 there follows a series of miracles on the part of Elisha, which both proved this prophet to be the continuer of the work which Elijah had begun, of converting Israel from the service of Baal to the service of the living God, and also manifested the beneficent fruits of the zeal of Elijah for the honour of the Lord of Sabaoth in the midst of the idolatrous generation of his time, partly in the view which we obtain from several of these accounts of the continuance and prosperity of the schools of the prophets, and partly in the attitude of Elisha towards the godly in the land as well as towards Joram the king, the son of the idolatrous Ahab, and in the extens…

The Church Fathers

Let us now consider what blessed Elisha said to her: "Borrow many vessels of your neighbors and your friends, shut your door, and pour out of that oil into the vessels of your neighbors." Who were those neighbors, except the Gentiles? Although that widow typified the church, she was still a widow, and so those neighbors from whom she borrowed vessels prefigured the Gentiles. They offered empty vessels in order that they might merit to receive the oil of mercy, because before obtaining the gift of grace all the Gentiles are known to have been without faith, charity and all good works. Finally, all who are offered to the church to receive salutary baptism receive the chrism and oil of benediction, so that they may no longer merit to be empty vessels but full of God as his temples.
— Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 128.2

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Debtor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Elisha · her — her
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Elisha: Oil multiplied — Elisha: Oil multiplied
Oil · Commerce in — Commerce in
Readings, Select · ELISHA AND THE WIDOW’ S OIL — ELISHA AND THE WIDOW’ S OIL
Widow · .The woman whose — .The woman whose

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Kings 4:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 4:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 4:2

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 4:2

John Gill on 2 Kings 4:3

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 4:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 4:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 4:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 4:2

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 4:2

John Gill on 2 Kings 4:3

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 4:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 4:1

Rashi on 2 Kings 4:2