What Does 2 Kings 4:43 Mean in the King James?
And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The servant asks what he should set before them, and Elisha answers with the same Hebrew verb: the act that looks inadequate is already the act of giving.
THE MEANING
The passage holds a counted shortage beside a promise of surplus. The people eat, and food remains. It speaks to you from inside the gap between what you can count and what is promised.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that what looks insufficient has already proved there can be no surplus.
THE ROOT
אֶתֵּן
ʾetten
GROWS FROM
נ־ת־ן
n-t-n
To give, put, set, or place.
“set / Give” in this verse is ʾetten. The servant’s question and Elisha’s command use forms of the same root: “What shall I give?” and “Give the people.” The English shifts from “set” to “Give,” while the Hebrew keeps the action joined: setting the food before them is already giving it.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
The gift shares the root of the command to give, linking provision with what is placed into another’s hands.
netinah: Giving; the act of giving
נְתִינָה
This noun makes the shared action explicit: the passage turns on giving what is already present.
וְהוֹתֵר
wehotēr
GROWS FROM
י־ת־ר
y-t-r
To remain, be left over, or exceed what is needed.
“leave thereof” in this verse is wehotēr. The promised outcome is not merely that the people eat; something remains after they do. This root also carries the sense of excess, so the leftover is part of the promise itself.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Remainder; excess
יֶתֶר
The same root names what remains after the meal, giving the promised leftover a sense of surplus.
yitron: Surplus; advantage or profit
יִתְרוֹן
This branch shows how what remains can become more than a remnant: it is an excess beyond the immediate need.
THE PATTERN
Provision is revealed when what appears insufficient is given and proves enough, with something left over.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.THE THREAD
So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.The next verse reports the act promised here: he sets the food before them, using the same Hebrew root for giving and setting. It also repeats the root for what remains, turning the promised surplus into the observed result.
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