Bible Strands
2 Kings 6:2
Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The sons of the prophets address Elisha after reporting that their current meeting place is too small. They request permission to travel to the Jordan River to gather timber for constructing a new dwelling.
The words — The phrase נֵֽלְכָה־ (ne.le.khah) literally means "let us go," paired with קוֹרָה (ko.Rah), which translates directly as "a beam" or "log." These terms frame the practical request to extract building materials from a specific location.
The thread — This pattern of communal labor for sustenance appears in John 21:3, where disciples join Peter to fish, and in Acts 18:3 and Acts 20:34, where Paul and others work with their own hands to support themselves and their companions.
Why it lands — The text records a straightforward request for manual labor to expand a community's physical capacity. It asks the reader to recognize that practical preparation and shared work are necessary steps before spiritual or communal growth can proceed.
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
Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.
Cross-references
- John 21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they said. So they went out and got into the boat, but caught nothing that night.
- Acts 18:3 and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.
- Acts 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions.
- 1 Corinthians 9:6 Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?
- 1 Thessalonians 2:9 Surely you recall, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
- 1 Timothy 6:6 Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.