“May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t separate Elisha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
- KJV Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
- BSB He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!”
- NKJV Then he said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!”
- NASB Then he said, “May God do so to me and more so, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The king vows to behead Elisha that very day, blaming the prophet for the disaster. His oath misdirects guilt away from his own sin.
Overview
In his fury the king swears a self-curse if Elisha's head remains on him by day's end. He scapegoats the prophet rather than facing the nation's covenant unfaithfulness as the cause. The reaction reveals a hardened heart that resents God's messenger instead of seeking God. It sets up Elisha's calm foreknowledge and the king's repentant restraint that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ruth 1:17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
- 1 Kgs 19:2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!”
- 1 Sam 14:44Saul said, “God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”
- Jer 37:15–16The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
- Acts 23:12–13When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
- 2 Sam 19:13Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’”
- John 11:50nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
- 1 Kgs 18:17When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
- Jer 38:4Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”
- 1 Kgs 22:8The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.”
- 1 Sam 3:17He said, “What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.”
- 1 Kgs 2:23Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.
- 2 Sam 3:35All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, until the sun goes down.”
- 1 Sam 25:22God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”
- 2 Sam 3:9God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him;
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 6:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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