Bible Strands
2 Kings 6:21
And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The king of Israel addresses Elisha immediately after the Aramean army enters Samaria with their eyes opened. He poses the same question twice, asking whether he should execute the captured soldiers.
The words — הַ/אַכֶּ֥ה (ha./'a.Keh) translates literally as “will I strike down” or “shall I kill them.” The doubled question reflects the king’s immediate military instinct and his pause for prophetic direction.
The thread — The address “My father” occurs in 2 Kings 5:13 when Naaman’s servants speak to him, and in 2 Kings 2:12 when Elisha honors Elijah. The phrase functions as a term of deference to spiritual authority, not biological relation.
Why it lands — The text records a ruler’s impulse to destroy captured enemies, followed by a prophetic command to spare and feed them. It asks the reader to evaluate whether available power should be exercised for retribution or for strategic mercy.
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 the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 5:13 Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?”
- 2 Kings 8:9 So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. And he went in and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
- 2 Kings 2:12 As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.
- 1 Samuel 24:4 So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
- 1 Samuel 24:19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.
- 1 Samuel 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”
- 2 Kings 13:14 When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
- Luke 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
- Luke 22:49 Those around Jesus saw what was about to happen and said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?”