Bible Strands
2 Kings 6:32
Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elisha speaks to the elders while seated in his house, moments before the king’s assassin arrives. The exchange occurs during the king’s active plot to execute the prophet.
The words — The Hebrew יֹשֵׁב (yo.Shev) and יֹשְׁבִים (yo.she.Vim) describe a sustained posture of sitting, indicating deliberate waiting rather than flight. וַיִּשְלַח (va/i.yish.Lach) records the king’s formal dispatch of the killing order.
The thread — A prophet seated with elders during judgment appears in Ezekiel 8:1 and Ezekiel 14:1, where elders gather before the prophet amid divine verdicts. The scene parallels 1 Kings 18:4, where Obadiah shelters prophets from royal slaughter.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to note that prophetic authority remains intact despite royal threats. It asks the reader to observe that divine protection operates through stillness and foresight rather than physical evasion.
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
But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 18:4 for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
- Ezekiel 8:1 In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.
- Ezekiel 14:1 Then some of the elders of Israel came and sat down before me.
- Ezekiel 20:1 In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.
- 1 Kings 18:13 Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.
- 1 Kings 21:10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
- 1 Kings 14:6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? For I have been sent to you with bad news.
- 1 Kings 21:13 And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
- 2 Kings 6:12 But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
- Ezekiel 33:31 So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.