One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
Parallel Translations
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One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
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And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
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And one of his servants said: 'Nay, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber.'
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Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 6:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 2:28-30 but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: “As for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will happen. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
- Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
- 2 Kings 6:9-10 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you not pass this place; for the Syrians are coming down there.” The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once or twice.
- Ecclesiastes 10:20 Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
- Daniel 2:22-23 He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. I thank you, and praise you, you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
- 2 Kings 5:3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.”
- 2 Kings 5:13-15 His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’ ” Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
- Psalms 139:1-4 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
- Isaiah 29:15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”
- Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh, “and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
- Daniel 2:47 The king answered to Daniel, and said, “Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.”
- Daniel 4:9-18 “Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation. Thus were the visions of my head on my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree in the middle of the earth; and its height was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and its height reached to the sky, and its sight to the end of all the earth. The leaves of it were beautiful, and it had much fruit, and in it was food for all. The animals of the field had shade under it, and the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. “I saw in the visions of my head on my bed, and behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from the sky. He cried aloud, and said this, ‘Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches! Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit! Let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of the sky. Let his portion be with the animals in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let an animal’s heart be given to him. Then let seven times pass over him. “ ‘The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.’ “This dream I, king Nebuchadnezzar, have seen; and you, Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
- 2 Kings 5:8 It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain There is nothing so secret that thou canst go…
There is nothing so secret that thou canst go about, but he knoweth it, and discovereth it unto his King.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 6:12 And one of his servants said, None,…
2Ki 6:12 And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that [is] in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
Ver. 12. And one of his servants said.] This was Naaman, saith Abulensis; but that is not likely. Rather it was some one that had been with Naaman, or on some other occasion, in Israel.
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The words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.] State secrets, Areana imperil, should not be blabbed or blazed abroad. The Romans for this, built a temple to Consus, the god of their counsels, sub tecto in Circo, in an open place, but under much covert; to show that counsels must be kept secret. {a} Metellus Macedonicus was wont to say, that if he thought his shirt were privy to his designs, he would tear it off and cast it away. And Peter, king of Arragon, answered in like manner Pope Martin IV, who sent to him to ask what he meant by the navy he was then rigging forth. Benhadad suspected his counsellors of treachery; but Elisha it was who disclosed his designs and frustrated them, by his prophetical spirit.
{a} Servius.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he said, go, and spy where he is,…
And he said, go, and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him,.... But how could he expect to take him, who could give the king of Israel such intelligence of his designs against him, that he might escape his snares?
and it was told him, saying, behold, he is in Dothan; a city in the tribe of Manasseh, not far from Shechem; see Gen 37:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In thy bedchamber - literally, “in the secret place…
In thy bedchamber - literally, “in the secret place of thy bedchamber,” i. e.,” in the greatest possible secrecy.” The seclusion of the harem must be taken into account for the full appreciation of the force of the phrase. Probably the Syrian lord who answered Benhadad had received his intelligence from some of the Israelites.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Chamber. It is difficult therefore for the saints in…
Chamber. It is difficult therefore for the saints in heaven to hear our prayers? though they have not such long ears as Calvin ridicules. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. One of his servants said — How knew…
12. One of his servants said — How knew this servant that Elisha gave the information? The fact was probably well known and much talked of in Israel, and from some Israelite this Syrian obtained his knowledge.
In thy bedchamber — A proverbial expression meaning the most secret and confidential plans and counsels of the king.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel] This…
12. Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel] This mention of Elisha points to such a knowledge of him as might have been gained through Naaman’s cure. It may however be that communications of other kinds passed between Syria and Israel, and that in some of these the precise nature of Elisha’s conduct was described. Nothing in the story of Naaman could suggest that Elisha gave information to the king of Israel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) One of his servants.—The old interpreters thought of…
(12) One of his servants.—The old interpreters thought of Naaman, but Elisha’s fame may have been otherwise known at Damascus.
None.—Nay.
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The words.—The LXX. and Vulg.,”all the words.”
Telleth.—From time to time, as the Hebrew form denotes.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And one of his servants saidi.e. one of those…
And one of his servants saidi.e. one of those interrogated, answeredNone, my lord, O king; literally, Nay, my lord, the king meaning, Think not so; it is not as thou supposest; there is no traitor in thy camp or in thy court; we are all true men. The explanation of the circumstances that surprise thee is quite different." But Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel compare "the man of God" (ver. 9); so much above the others, that he is spoken of as if there were no othertelleth the King of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber; literally, in the secret place of thy bedchamber. How the Syrian lord knew this, or whether he merely made a shrewd guess, we cannot say. Elisha"s miraculous gifts had, no doubt, become widely known to the Syrians through the cure of Naaman"s leprosy; and the lord, who may possibly have been Naaman himself, concluded that a man who could cure s leper could also read a king"s secret thoughts without difficulty.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The servant is saying that none of the king's…
No
The servant is saying that none of the king's soldiers are giving information to the king of Israel. AT: "It is none of us" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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my master, king
This refers to the king of Aram.
the words that you speak in your own bedroom
"what you say in the privacy of your own bedroom"
I may send men and capture him
The king plans to send the men to capture Elisha for him. The king does not plan to capture him himself. AT: "I may send men to capture him" (See: Metonymy)
See
This word is used here to draw the king's attention to what is said next. AT: "Listen"
he is in Dothan
"Elisha is in Dothan"
Dothan
This is the name of a city. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
lord
Elisha
prophet
word
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.