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 therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

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

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
say	אָמַרְנוּ֩ 'a.mar.Nu	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
enter	נָב֨וֹא na.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
city	הָעִ֜יר ha.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
famine	וְהָרָעָ֤ב ve.ha.ra.'Av	H7458	hunger (more or less extensive) · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
city	בָּעִיר֙ ba.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
die	וָמַ֣תְנוּ va.Mat.nu	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common plural
still	יָשַׁ֥בְנוּ ya.Shav.nu	H3427	properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
die	וָמָ֑תְנוּ va.Ma.te.nu	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common plural
come	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
fall	וְנִפְּלָה֙ ve.ni.pe.Lah	H5307	to fall · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
host	מַחֲנֵ֣ה ma.cha.Neh	H4264	an encampment (of travellers or troops) · noun, common feminine singular construct
Syrians	אֲרָ֔ם 'a.Ram	H758	Aram or Syria · proper noun, a place name
alive	יְחַיֻּ֣נוּ ye.chai.Yu.nu	H2421	to live · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
live	נִֽחְיֶ֔ה nich.Yeh	H2421	to live · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
kill	יְמִיתֻ֖נוּ ye.mi.Tu.nu	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
die	וָמָֽתְנוּ va.Ma.te.nu	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential 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

Jeremiah 14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine…
2 Samuel 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet dot…
Esther 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also…
Jonah 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Luke 15:17-19 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
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 37:13-14 And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah;…
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

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…

Read the whole note in the console

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 7:4

If we say we will enter into the city,.... Contrary to the law which forbid them: then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; not being able to obtain food to preserve life: and if we sit here, we die also; having nothing to eat to support nature: now therefore let us come, and fall unto the host of the Syrians; put ourselves into their hands, and lie at their mercy: if they save us alive, we shall live; if they do not put us to death, but give us bread to eat, our lives will be preserved: and if they kill us, we shall but die; which we must inevitably do, whether we stay here, or go into the city.

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…
Famine · Caused: Death — Caused: Death

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 7:4

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 7:4

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 7:4

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 7:4

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