What Does 2 Kings 7:1 Mean in the King James?
Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
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 word Elisha announces is already concrete enough to count: tomorrow’s change has a grain measure, a price, and a public gate.
THE MEANING
When shortage seems to have fixed what comes next, this verse opens a future named before it is visible. The change is concrete, measured grain at a stated price in a public place, so provision takes a form people can see and share.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that present scarcity has already decided what tomorrow can hold.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; a spoken word, matter, or thing.
This root can name both speech and a matter or thing. Here, “the word” points toward a market condition with actual grain, measure, price, and place: the promise already has material shape.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: Spoke or declared.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken declaration names the conditions that will be visible at the gate.
devarim: The plural of davar, used for words, matters, or things.
דְּבָרִים
The same word-family can carry speech and concrete matters, joining the announcement to the coming market change.
שִׁמְעוּ
shimʿū
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, heed, or respond.
“Hear” in this verse is shimʿū. The Hebrew root can mean hearing with heed, while שְׁמוּעָה (shemuʿah, “report; news”) is a report from the same root. Elisha’s opening frames the prophecy as consequential news: it concerns what the grain market will actually show.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: To hear or give heed.
שָׁמַע
The imperative calls for more than sound to reach the ear; it calls for the announcement to be received.
shemuʿah: A report or piece of news.
שְׁמוּעָה
The promised change arrives first as news, before it appears in the public market.
THE PATTERN
A spoken promise names provision before visible conditions change, and that provision becomes public and measurable.
I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.THE THREAD
And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.The same Hebrew noun דָּבָר (dābār, “word; matter”) appears in both verses: first it is what the city is told to hear, then the market changes “according to the word of the LORD.” The root links the announcement to the material reality of the flour, barley, and price spoken in advance.
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