So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and settled in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
Parallel translations
- WEB The woman arose, and did according to the man of God’s word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
- KJV And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
- BSB So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines.
- NKJV So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years.
- NASB So the woman arose and acted in accordance with the word of the man of God: she went with her household and resided in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
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 woman obeys and sojourns seven years among the Philistines. Her faith-filled obedience preserves her household through the famine.
Overview
Acting on the man of God's word, she leaves her land and dwells in Philistine territory until the famine passes. Her ready compliance reflects trust in the prophet's God-given warning. The displacement, though costly, spares her family the years of scarcity. It models obedience that yields preservation and later vindication.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- 1 Tim 5:8But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Judg 3:3the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
- 1 Sam 27:1–3David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.”
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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 8:2 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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