2 Kings 7:13

But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — One unnamed servant of the king of Israel addresses the royal court during a night crisis after the Aramean camp suddenly empties. The king has just reported that the enemy likely withdrew to ambush the starving Israelites as they flee the city.

The words — The servant identifies himself with אֶחָד (echad, "one") and מֵעֲבָדָיו (me'avadav, "from his servants"), then urges with נָא (na, "please") that the king take חֲמִשָּׁה (chamishah, "five") horses remaining in the city. The verb וְיִקְחוּ (ve'yikchu, "and they may take") frames the proposal as a limited reconnaissance rather than a full military sortie.

The thread — This counsel to test a situation with a small group mirrors 2 Kings 7:4, where the lepers calculate that staying means death while going to the enemy camp offers a chance of survival, and aligns with 2 Kings 6:33, where the king initially reads a crisis as divine judgment before seeking factual confirmation.

Why it lands — The text records a practical proposal that shifts leadership from passive dread to active verification, demanding a reader to recognize how cautious inquiry can interrupt despair and alter a course of action.

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

וַיַּעַן֩va/i.ya.'Anand/ he answered אֶחָ֨ד'e.Chadone מֵעֲבָדָ֜יוme./'a.va.Da/vfrom/ servants/ his וַיֹּ֗אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said וְיִקְחוּ־ve./yik.chu-and/ they may take נָ֞אna'please חֲמִשָּׁ֣הcha.mi.Shahfive מִן־min-of הַסּוּסִים֮ha./su.Simthe/ horses הַֽנִּשְׁאָרִים֮ha./nish.'a.Rim<the>/ remaining אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhich נִשְׁאֲרוּ־nish.'a.ru-they are leftבָהּ֒va/hin/ itהִנָּ֗םhi.Na/mhere/ they כְּכָל־ke./khol-[will be] like/ all הֲמ֤וֹןhe.ha.mon[the] multitude of יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'ElIsrael אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhich נִשְׁאֲרוּ־nish.'a.ru-they are leftבָ֔הּVa/hin/ itהִנָּ֕םhi.Na/mhere/ they כְּכָל־ke./khol-[will be] like/ all הֲמ֥וֹןha.Mon[the] multitude of יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'ElIsrael אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-which תָּ֑מּוּTa.muthey have come to an end וְנִשְׁלְחָ֖הve./nish.le.Chahand/ let us send וְנִרְאֶֽה׃ve./nir.'Ehand/ we may see

King James Version

And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.

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 6:33 While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
2 Kings 7:4 If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”
Jeremiah 14:18 If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”
Lamentations 4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.