Bible Strands
2 Kings 8:13
“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hazael speaks to the prophet Elisha immediately after Elisha weeps and predicts the brutal atrocities Hazael will commit against Israel. Elisha responds by stating that the LORD has revealed Hazael will become king over Aram.
The words — The Hebrew phrase עַבְדְּךָ הַכֶּלֶב ('avdekha ha-kelev) literally translates to "your servant the dog," a self-deprecating idiom expressing unworthiness or impossibility. The verb יַעֲשֶׂה (ya'aseh) means "he will do," pointing to the future execution of the foretold violence.
The thread — This self-abasing "dog" metaphor appears in 1 Samuel 17:43 when Goliath dismisses David, and in 2 Samuel 9:8 when Mephibosheth questions his own worth before David. The commission to anoint a king in Damascus is initially given by the LORD to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:15.
Why it lands — The text records Hazael’s feigned humility and Elisha’s direct transmission of divine judgment without softening the prediction. It requires the reader to recognize that prophetic revelation does not depend on the recipient’s moral readiness or self-perception.
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 Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 17:43 “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
- 1 Kings 19:15 Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
- 2 Samuel 9:8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
- 2 Kings 8:10 Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”
- Psalms 22:16 For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
- Psalms 22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs.
- Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Matthew 7:6 Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
- Isaiah 56:10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?