Chapter 66

4:24. And she saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going: And do that which I bid thee.

4:25. So she went forward, and came to the man of God, to mount Carmel: and when the man of God saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi, his servant: Behold that Sunamitess.

4:26. Go, therefore, to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with thee, and with thy husband, and with thy son? And she answered: Well.

4:27. And when she came to the man of God, to the mount, she caught hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of God said: Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

4:28. And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? did I not say to thee: Do not deceive me?

4:29. Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

Salute him not.... He that is sent to raise to life the sinner spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world.

4:30. But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore, and followed her.

4:31. But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen.

St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the prophet Eliseus, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and restore us to life. In this Eliseus was a figure of Christ, as it was necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a figure of the Church.

4:32. Eliseus, therefore, went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed:

4:33. And going in, he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord.

4:34. And he went up, and lay upon the child: and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he bowed himself upon him, and the child’s flesh grew warm.

4:35. Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes.

4:36. And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up thy son.

4:37. She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and took up her son, and went out.

4:38. And Eliseus returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him: And he said to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.

4:39. And one went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he found something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds of the field, and filled his mantle, and coming back, he shred them into the pot of pottage; for he knew not what it was.

Wild gourds of the field.... Colocynthidas. They are extremely bitter, and therefore are called the gall of the earth; and are poisonous if taken in a great quantity.

4:40. And they poured it out for their companions to eat: and when they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot, O man of God. And they could not eat thereof.

4:41. But he said: Bring some meal. And when they had brought it, he cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was now no bitterness in the pot.

4:42. And a certain man came from Baalsalisa, bringing to the man of God, bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and new corn in his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they may eat.

4:43. And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be left.

4:44. So he set it before them: and they ate, and there was left, according to the word of the Lord.

4 Kings Chapter 5

Naaman the Syrian is cleansed of his leprosy. He professeth his belief in one God, promising to serve him. Giezi taketh gifts of Naaman, and is struck with leprosy.

5:1. Naaman, general of the army, of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man, and rich, but a leper.

5:2. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife.

5:3. And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath.

5:4. Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel.

5:5. And the king of Syria said to him: Go; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment;

5:6. And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman, my servant, that thou mayst heal him of his leprosy.

5:7. And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me.

5:8. And when Eliseus, the man of God, had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.

5:9. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus:

5:10. And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean.

5:11. Naaman was angry, and went away, saying: I thought he would have come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me.

5:12. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation,

5:13. His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be clean?

5:14. Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child: and he was made clean.

5:15. And returning to the man of God, with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God, in all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee, therefore, take a blessing of thy servant.

A blessing.... a present.

5:16. But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused.

5:17. And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me, thy servant, to take from hence two mules’ burden of earth: for thy servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or victim, to other gods, but to the Lord.

5:18. But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord for thy servant; when my master goeth into the temple of Remmon, to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand: if I bow down in the temple of Remmon, when he boweth down in the same place, that the Lord pardon me, thy servant, for this thing.

5:19. And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him, in the spring time of the earth.

Go in peace.... What the prophet here allowed, was not an outward conformity to an idolatrous worship; but only a service which by his office he owed to his master: who on all public occasions leaned on him: so that his bowing down when his master bowed himself down was not in effect adoring the idols: nor was it so understood by the standers by, since he publicly professed himself a worshipper of the only true and living God, but it was no more than doing a civil office to the king his master, whose leaning upon him obliged him to bow at the same time that he bowed.

5:20. But Giezi, the servant of the man of God, said: My master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which he brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take something of him.

5:21. And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running after him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and said: Is all well?

5:22. And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying: Just now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

5:23. And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And he forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they carried them before him.

5:24. And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the men away, and they departed.

5:25. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said: Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no whither.

5:26. But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back, from his chariot, to meet thee? So now thou hast received money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants.

5:27. But the leprosy of Naaman, shall also stick to thee, and to thy seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper, as white as snow.

4 Kings Chapter 6

Eliseus maketh iron to swim upon the water: he leadeth the Syrians that were sent to apprehend him into Samaria, where there eyes being opened, they are courteously entertained. The Syrians besiege Samaria: the famine there causeth a woman to eat her own child. Upon this the king commandeth Eliseus to be put to death.

6:1. And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

6:2. Let us go as far as the Jordan, and take out of the wood every man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. And he said: Go.

6:3. And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He answered: I will come.

6:4. So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan, they cut down wood.

6:5. And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the ax fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.

6:6. And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him the place: Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam.

6:7. And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand, and took it.

6:8. And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying: In such and such a place, let us lay an ambush.

6:9. And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush.

6:10. And the king of Israel, sent to the place which the man of God had told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself there not once nor twice.

6:11. And the heart of the king of Syria, was troubled for this thing. And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you not tell me who it is that betrays me to the king of Israel?

6:12. And one of his servants said: No one, my lord, O king: but Eliseus, the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel all the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.

6:13. And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send and take him. And they told him: saying: Behold he is in Dothan.

6:14. Therefore, he sent thither horses, and chariots, and the strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city.

6:15. And the servant of the man of God, rising early went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?

6:16. But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with them.

6:17. And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Eliseus.

6:18. And the enemies came down to him: but Eliseus prayed to the Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness: and the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.

Blindness.... The blindness here spoken of was of a particular kind, which hindered them from seeing the objects that were really before them; and represented other different objects to their imagination: so that they no longer perceived the city of Dothan, nor were able to know the person of Eliseus; but were easily led by him, whom they took to be another man, to Samaria. So that he truly told them, this is not the way, neither is this the city, etc., because he spoke with relation to the way and to the city, which was represented to them.

6:19. And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you seek. So he led them into Samaria.

6:20. And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.

6:21. And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My father, shall I kill them?

6:22. And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them: but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

6:23. And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate and drank; and he let them go: and they went away to their master: and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

6:24. And it came to pass, after these things, that Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

6:25. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons’ dung, for five pieces of silver.

6:26. And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king.

6:27. And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:

6:28. This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

6:29. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day: Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.

6:30. When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh.

6:31. And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this day.

6:32. But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master’s feet is behind him.

6:33. While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared, who was coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord: what shall I look for more from the Lord?

4 Kings Chapter 7

Eliseus prophesieth a great plenty, which presently ensueth upon the sudden flight of the Syrians; of which four lepers bring the news to the city. The incredulous nobleman is trod to death.

7:1. And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord: Tomorrow, about this time, a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.

A stater.... It is the same as a sicle or shekel.

7:2. Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

7:3. Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till we die?

7:4. If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and if we will remain here, we must also die: come therefore, and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we shall live: but if they kill us, we shall but die.

7:5. So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp. And when they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found no man there.

7:6. For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army: and they said one to another: Behold, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hethites, and of the Egyptians; and they are come upon us.

7:7. Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives.

7:8. So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it.

7:9. Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go, and tell it in the king’s court.

7:10. So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing.

7:11. Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king’s palace.

7:12. And he arose in the night, and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city.

7:13. And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed), and let us send and see.

7:14. They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.

7:15. And they went after them, as far as the Jordan: and behold, all the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away, in their fright, and the messengers returned, and told the king.

7:16. And the people going out, pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.

7:17. And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him.

7:18. And it came to pass, according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time tomorrow, in the gate of Samaria.

7:19. When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to pass which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof.

7:20. And so it fell out to him, as it was foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

4 Kings Chapter 8

After seven years’ famine foretold by Eliseus, the Sunamitess returning home, recovereth her lands, and revenues. Eliseus foresheweth the death of Benadad, king of Syria, and the reign of Hazael. Joram’s wicked reign in Juda. He dieth, and his son Ochozias succeedeth.

8:1.And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: Arise, and go thou, and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst find: for the Lord hath called a famine, and it shall come upon the land seven years.

8:2. And she arose, and did according to the word of the man of God: and going with her household, she sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

8:3. And when the seven years were ended, the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to speak to the king for her house and for her lands.

8:4. And the king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God, saying: Tell me all the great things that Eliseus hath done.

8:5. And when he was telling the king how he had raised one dead to life, the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life, crying to the king for her house, and her lands. And Giezi said: My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Eliseus raised to life.

8:6. And the king asked the woman: and she told him. And the king appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers, and all the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left the land to this present.

8:7. Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad, king of Syria was sick; and they told him, saying: The man of God is come hither.

8:8. And the king said to Hazael: Take with thee presents, and go to meet the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying: Can I recover of this my illness?

8:9. And Hazael went to meet him, taking with him presents, and all the good things of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he stood before him, he said: Thy son, Benadad, the king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying: Can I recover of this my illness?

8:10. And Eliseus said to him: Go tell him: Thou shalt recover: but the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die.

Tell him: thou shalt recover.... By these words the prophet signified that the king’s disease was not mortal: and that he would recover if no violence were used. Or he might only express himself in this manner, by way of giving Hazael to understand that he knew both what he would say and do; that he would indeed tell the king he should recover; but would be himself the instrument of his death.

8:11. And he stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush: and the man of God wept.

8:12. And Hazael said to him: Why doth my lord weep? And he said: Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel. Their strong cities thou wilt burn with fire, and their young men thou wilt kill with the sword, and thou wilt dash their children, and rip up their pregnant women.