2 Kings 7:3

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?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
four	וְאַרְבָּעָ֧ה ve.'ar.ba.'Ah	H702	four · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
leprous	מְצֹרָעִ֖ים me.tzo.ra.'Im	H6879	to scourge · verb, pual passive participle, masculine plural absolute
men	אֲנָשִׁ֛ים 'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
in	פֶּ֣תַח Pe.tach	H6607	an opening (literally) · noun, common masculine singular construct
gate	הַשָּׁ֑עַר ha.Sha.'ar	H8179	an opening · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said	וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ vai.yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
one	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
another	רֵעֵ֔הוּ re.'E.hu	H7453	an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sit	יֹשְׁבִ֥ים yo.she.Vim	H3427	properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
die	מָֽתְנוּ Ma.te.nu	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural

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

Leviticus 13:45-46 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall…
Numbers 5:2-4 Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the…
2 Kings 7:4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now t…
Numbers 12:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the cam…
2 Kings 8:4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
Jeremiah 8:14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath p…
Jeremiah 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that wi…
2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given del…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 7:3-11

We are here told, I. How the siege of Samaria was raised in the evening, at the edge of night (Kg2 7:6, Kg2 7:7), not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, striking terror upon the spirits of the besiegers. Here was not a sword drawn against them, not a drop of blood shed, it was not by thunder or hailstones that they were discomfited, nor were they slain, as Sennacherib's army before Jerusalem, by a destroying angel; but, 1. The Lord made them to hear a noise of chariots and horses. The Syrians that besieged Dothan had their sight imposed upon, Kg2 6:18. These had their hearing imposed upon. For God knows how to work upon every sense, pursuant to his own counsels as he…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 7:3

there were four leprous men--The account of the sudden raising of the siege and the unexpected supply given to the famishing inhabitants of Samaria, is introduced by a narrative of the visit and discovery, by these poor creatures, of the extraordinary flight of the Syrians. leprous men at the entering in of the gate--living, perhaps, in some lazar house there (Lev 13:4-6; Num 5:3).

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 7:3

There were four leprous men - The Gemara in Sota, R. Sol. Jarchi, and others, say that these four lepers were Gehazi and his three sons. At the entering in of the gate - They were not permitted to mingle in civil society.

John Gill on 2 Kings 7:3

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate,.... Of the city of Samaria; lepers, according to the law, being obliged to be without the city and camp, Leviticus 13:46 these might have a dwelling assigned them near the gate; or they might get as near to it as they could, partly to obtain relief from the city, and partly for fear of the Syrians; these, the Jews say (x), were Gehazi and his three sons, see 2 Kings 5:27. and they said one to another, why sit we here until we die? being ready to perish with hunger. (x) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 47. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 107. 2.

The Church Fathers

Even though the four lepers are loathsome, if we symbolically recognize in them the fact that they announced goods for the inhabitants of their city, they do no wrong to the symbol but correctly represent the four holy Evangelists. Indeed, we must bear in mind that through their books the grace of our Savior and source of life Jesus Christ was known, and freedom was given to all people according to his divine plan. And so those whose flesh was leprous shone in their interior look with the splendor of their righteousness. In addition, they symbolically represent the first attitude of the apostles in the fact that leprosy had corrupted their skin. But they also represent them in the fact that their interior was adorned with righteous behavior because the old man has been transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit and renewed. Therefore they have clothed themselves with the garment shining with the colors of heaven and have been sent to show the work of the hands of God.
— Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 7:3

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

Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Samaria — A watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the “hill of Shomeron,” a solitary mountain, a great “mamelon.” It is an oblong…
Leprosy · .Four lepers outsi — .Four lepers outsi
Sanitation · .Instances of — .Instances of

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 7:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 7:3-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 7:3

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 7:3

John Gill on 2 Kings 7:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 7:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 7:3-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 7:3

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 7:3

John Gill on 2 Kings 7:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 7:3-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 7:3

Rashi on 2 Kings 7:3