Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Kings 4:42 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 42. 42And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Firstfruits feed one hundred people.”
Firstfruits that should have gone to a shrine feed a hundred
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Kings 4:42–44. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Kings 4:42–44
Read 2 Kings 4:42 with 4:42–44. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: A man brings firstfruits, Elisha orders the small provision shared with one hundred men, and food remains after they eat.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Firstfruits feed one hundred people,” 2 Kings 4:42 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 4:38–41 establishes this prior movement: During famine a servant unknowingly gathers wild gourds, the prophetic company cries out over the pot, and Elisha adds meal before they eat safely. 2 Kings 4:42–44 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 4:42–44 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 4:42–44 forms one scene or regnal notice: A man brings firstfruits, Elisha orders the small provision shared with one hundred men, and food remains after they eat.
Verse 42. 42 And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.
Verse 43. 43 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.
Verse 44. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.
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: A man brings firstfruits, Elisha orders the small provision shared with one hundred men, and food remains after they eat. In 2 Kings 4:42, the concrete line “And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty…” 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 4:42–44 — Firstfruits feed one hundred peopleSources 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 4:42–44, 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 4:42–44
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. 631–633, translation and translator notes for 4:42–44
Open source ↗