“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria.”
- KJV And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
- NKJV So Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria.”
- NASB Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a lowly dog—that he could do this great thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
- NLT Hazael responded, “How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such great things?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram.”
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
Hazael protests his lowliness, and Elisha declares he will be king of Syria. The prophecy announces his sudden rise to power.
Overview
Hazael feigns humility, calling himself 'but a dog,' yet Elisha reveals his coming kingship. The disclosure fulfills the commission given to Elijah to anoint a king over Aram. It exposes the ambition that will drive Hazael's treachery. The verse shows God directing even the rise of foreign rulers to accomplish His purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Sam 17:43“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
- 1 Kgs 19:15Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
- 2 Sam 9:8Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
- 2 Kgs 8:10Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”
- Ps 22:20Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs.
- Matt 7:6Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
- Mic 2:1Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Ps 22:16For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
- Matt 26:33–35Peter said to Him, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.”
- Jer 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Phil 3:2Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!
- Isa 56:10–11Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Rev 22:15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
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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 8:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.