Bible Strands
2 Kings 7:9
Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Four Syro-Aramean desert lepers address themselves after discovering an abandoned enemy camp and hiding its spoils. They speak to one another at dusk, recognizing that delaying their report until morning would constitute a moral failure.
The words — The Hebrew phrase לֹא כֵן אֲנַחְנוּ עֹשִׂים (lo' khen anachnu osim) literally renders "not right we are doing," emphasizing the immediate moral assessment of their silence. The participle עֹשִׂים ('osim) denotes their current, ongoing action of withholding information.
The thread — The text explicitly identifies their silence as a sin that will overtake them if they wait until morning, then commands them to go and tell the king’s household. This pattern of urgent testimony aligns with Isaiah 52:7, the warning that unaddressed sin will surface in Numbers 32:23, and the call to prioritize others' interests in Philippians 2:4.
Why it lands — The verse plainly states that withholding good news is an active moral failure, not a neutral pause. It requires the reader to treat timely reporting as a duty that overrides personal convenience or fear.
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
Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
- Philippians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
- Numbers 32:23 But if you do not do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD—and be assured that your sin will find you out.
- 2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?
- 2 Kings 7:6 For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
- Isaiah 41:27 I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
- Nahum 1:15 Look to the mountains—the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off.
- Haggai 1:4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
- 2 Kings 5:26 But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?
- Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.