Bible Strands
2 Kings 4:31
Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Gehazi moves ahead of Elisha and the boy’s mother, placing the prophet’s staff on the child’s face to force a response. He then returns to report the failure to Elisha before the prophet arrives at the house.
The words — The Hebrew עָבַר ('a.Var) marks Gehazi’s forward movement ahead of the group, while פְּנֵי (pe.Nei) specifies the staff laid directly on the boy’s face. These terms highlight the physical action and the complete absence of contact or communication.
The thread — The pattern of unresponsive divine inquiry recurs in 1 Samuel 14:37 and 1 Samuel 28:6, where God remains silent to human petitions. Jesus later employs sleep imagery for death in John 11:11, contrasting Gehazi’s failed physical intervention with divine authority to awaken.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledgment that ritual objects or human proxies cannot manufacture divine intervention. It demands the reader abandon mechanical reliance when confronting mortality and wait for direct prophetic engagement.
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
And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
Cross-references
- John 11:11 After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
- 1 Samuel 14:37 So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But God did not answer him that day.
- 1 Samuel 28:6 He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
- 1 Kings 18:26 And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.
- 1 Kings 18:29 Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.
- Job 14:12 so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.
- Ezekiel 14:3 “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?
- Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Matthew 17:16 I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
- Mark 5:39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”