Add parallel Print Page Options

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People

42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet[a]—twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain.[b] Elisha[c] said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.” 43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?”[d] He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord has said, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”[e] 44 So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as in the Lord’s message.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 4:42 tn Heb “man of God.”
  2. 2 Kings 4:42 tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.
  3. 2 Kings 4:42 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  4. 2 Kings 4:43 tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
  5. 2 Kings 4:43 tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.

42 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “(A)Give them to the people that they may eat.” 43 But his attendant said, “How (B)am I to serve this to a hundred men?” Nevertheless he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for this is what the Lord says: ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’” 44 So he served it to them, and they ate and (C)had some left over, in accordance with the word of the Lord.

Read full chapter