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Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ĕ·lî·šā‘ way·yō·mer šim·‘ū də·ḇar- Yah·weh kōh Yah·weh ’ā·mar kā·‘êṯ mā·ḥār bə·ša·‘ar šō·mə·rō·wn sə·’āh- sō·leṯ bə·še·qel wə·sā·ṯa·yim śə·‘ō·rîm bə·še·qel
Word by word18 · parsed
√ ʼĔlîyshâʻ — Elisha, the famous prophetNounpropermasculine singular
ʼĔlîyshâʻ: Elisha, “God is salvation” The name is itself the counter-argument to the siege. The king of Israel has just renounced waiting on the LORD (so Benson and Poole read 2 Kings 6:33), and the man whose name means God saves answers with a price list.
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperativemasculine plural
shâmaʻ: to hear intelligently, with attention and obedience A plural imperative fired at a hostile room. The verb in Hebrew does not separate hearing from heeding, so “Hear ye the word of the LORD” is already a demand for faith, and v. 2 is already its refusal. Benson catches the double edge: “Hear what he saith; hear it, and believe it.”
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular construct
dâbâr: a word, a thing, a matter Construct with the divine name: the word of YHWH, not Elisha's forecast. The same noun returns in v. 2 (index 18) as haddābār hazzeh, “this thing,” in the scoffer's mouth. Hebrew lets one noun be both the utterance and the event it brings about, which is the hinge of the whole unit: the officer doubts the dâbâr as thing precisely because he will not receive the dâbâr as word.
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
kôh: thus, like this The messenger formula. It marks Elisha as courier, not author.
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
ʼâmar: to say Qal perfect, third masculine singular. The speech act is complete in the past; only its effects are future. That grammatical fact is the ground of the precision Maclaren praises, and the reason Elisha can name an hour.
√ ʻêth — time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etcPreposition-k, ArticleNouncommon singular
ʻêth: time, the appointed hour With the prefixed k and the article: “about this same hour.” Named time, named place, named price. Maclaren: “Man's promises are vague; God's are specific.” Nothing is said about the means, and Maclaren argues that the silence is deliberate, so that faith has nothing to lean on but the speaker.
√ mâchâr — properly, deferred, iAdverb
√ shaʻar — an opening, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
shaʻar: an opening, a gate Construct: in the gate of Samaria. Four commentators independently supply the same fact: Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit and Gill all state that the gateway was the grain market. Pulpit adds that Oriental gateways were spacious civic rooms, one at Nineveh above two thousand five hundred square feet. The prophecy therefore names the exact square yard where it will be tested, and where the scoffer of v. 2 will be trampled (2 Kings 7:17, 20).
√ Shômᵉrôwn — Shomeron, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
√ çᵉʼâh — a seah, or certain measure (as determinative) forgrainNounfeminine singular
çᵉʼâh: a seah, a dry measure for grain A rare word: the Verifier finds it in only six verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. Cambridge sizes it at six times the kab of 2 Kings 6:25, so that the same gate will sell six times the quantity of good food at one fifth the price at which filth had been sold. Gill, Barnes and Pulpit each give an estimate and each gives a different one, which is honest evidence that no one now knows the seah exactly.
√ çôleth — flour (as chipped off)Nounfeminine singular
çôleth: fine flour, flour as chipped or sifted off Not siege rations but the best grade in the language, the flour of Sarah's three seahs for the visitors at Mamre (Genesis 18:6, cited here by Ellicott) and of the grain offering. The promise does not merely end starvation; it restores the food of hospitality to a city that had been eating its own children.
√ sheqel — probably a weightPreposition-bNounmasculine singular
sheqel: probably a weight A weight of silver, not a coin. The commentators price it between two shillings and half a crown and differ among themselves; the text's point is not the absolute figure but the collapse from the rate of 2 Kings 6:25.
√ çᵉʼâh — a seah, or certain measure (as determinative) forgrainConjunctive wawNounfd
√ sᵉʻôrâh — barley (as villose)Nounfeminine plural
sᵉʻôrâh: barley The poor man's grain, sold at twice the volume for the same silver. Ellicott refuses the easy reading that it is only fodder: barley was human food, “in the shape of barley cakes” (Judges 7:13). The two-tier price list is a real market, which is why it is falsifiable within a day.
√ sheqel — probably a weightPreposition-bNounmasculine singular