Bible Strands
2 Kings 4:26
Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The man of God directs his servant Gehazi to run out and greet the Shunammite woman approaching from a distance. Gehazi delivers the inquiry, and she responds that all is well. (2 Kings 4:25–26)
The words — The Hebrew term שָׁלוֹם (sha.Lom), denoting peace or welfare, anchors the repeated greeting inquiry. The imperative רֽוּץ (rutz) commands immediate movement to intercept her before she arrives. (2 Kings 4:26)
The thread — The reply “Everything is all right” mirrors her earlier dismissal of ritual timing in 2 Kings 4:23 and parallels the pastoral welfare checks recorded in 1 Samuel 17:18. (2 Kings 4:23; 1 Samuel 17:18)
Why it lands — The text records a standard inquiry of welfare followed by a flat denial of distress, which the surrounding narrative immediately subverts by revealing her hidden grief. The verse demands attention to the gap between polite custom and concealed suffering.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.
Cross-references
- Acts 15:36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
- 2 Kings 4:23 “Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” “Everything is all right,” she said.
- 1 Samuel 17:18 Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.
- Genesis 37:14 Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,
- 1 Samuel 3:18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
- Job 1:21 saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Psalms 39:9 I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
- Genesis 29:6 “Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”
- Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.
- Zechariah 2:4 and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.