What Does 2 Kings 6:1 Mean in the King James?
And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
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
“Too strait” names the same constricting narrowness carried in the name Mitzrayim, Egypt.
THE MEANING
A shared place can become too narrow for the life gathered inside it. The verse lets you name that limit without making the people the problem: the dwelling is constricted, and they say so together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Needing more room does not mean the people are too much; the verse locates the narrowness in the place they share.
THE ROOT
צַר
tsar
GROWS FROM
צרר
ṣ-r-r
To bind, press in, or constrict; צַר describes what is narrow or tight.
“strait” in this verse is tsar. The Hebrew says the dwelling is tsar, narrow, pressed in. The same seed appears in metzar, a narrow place, and in Mitzrayim, Egypt, heard in this lens as the two narrow places. The verse names a constriction that scripture repeatedly sets against spaciousness.
ALSO GROWS
metzar: A narrow place, strait, or distress
מֵצַר
This noun makes constriction a place one can be in, as the prophets describe their dwelling here.
tsarah: Distress or trouble
צָרָה
The same pressing narrowness extends from physical space to lived pressure.
Mitzrayim: Egypt; in this lens, the two narrow places
מִצְרַיִם
The name carries the image of constriction that marks the journey toward spaciousness.
THE PATTERN
When shared life meets constricted space, scripture pictures the next movement as enlargement into spaciousness.
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.THE THREAD
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.Psalm 118:5 uses מֵצַר (metzar), “narrow place,” from the same root as צַר (tsar), “narrow,” in 2 Kings 6:1. Here the dwelling is too narrow; there, the speaker is answered by being set in a large place.
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