Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Kings 2:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Jericho's harmful water is healed.”
A pleasant city still needs healing water
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Kings 2:19–22. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Kings 2:19–22
Read 2 Kings 2:20 with 2:19–22. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: The city's men report bad water and miscarrying or unproductive land; Elisha uses a new cruse of salt and declares the water healed.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Jericho's harmful water is healed,” 2 Kings 2:20 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 2:11–18 establishes this prior movement: A fiery chariot separates the prophets, Elijah ascends in a whirlwind, and Elisha crosses the Jordan before reluctant searchers fail to find Elijah. 2 Kings 2:19–22 continues the same royal, prophetic, household, military, reform, or exile movement; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 2:19–22 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 2:19–22 forms one scene or regnal notice: The city's men report bad water and miscarrying or unproductive land; Elisha uses a new cruse of salt and declares the water healed.
Verse 19. 19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
Verse 20. 20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
Verse 21. 21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
Verse 22. 22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
What Remains True
Divine mercy is received as gift rather than technique, entitlement, payment, spectacle, or a measure used to blame people whose outcome differs. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: The city's men report bad water and miscarrying or unproductive land; Elisha uses a new cruse of salt and declares the water healed. In 2 Kings 2:20, the concrete line “And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Kings 2:19–22 — Jericho's harmful water is healedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 2:19–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:19–22
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 627–629, translation and translator notes for 2:19–22
Open source ↗