Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Kings 7:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
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 it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “The doubting officer is trampled at the gate.”
Read It With
- 2 Kings 7:17–20
Read 2 Kings 7:18 with 7:17–20. 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 officer manages the gate, the crowd tramples him, and the narrator twice connects his death to Elisha's word.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “The doubting officer is trampled at the gate,” 2 Kings 7:18 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 7:12–16 establishes this prior movement: The king suspects an ambush, servants propose a limited reconnaissance, and the abandoned camp supplies Samaria at the announced prices. 2 Kings 7:17–20 interprets or evaluates what the preceding movement has established; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 7:17–20 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 7:17–20 forms one scene or regnal notice: The officer manages the gate, the crowd tramples him, and the narrator twice connects his death to Elisha's word.
Verse 17. 17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
Verse 18. 18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
Verse 19. 19 And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Verse 20. 20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
What Remains True
Public power, prophetic authority, and worship remain accountable to truth, human responsibility, affected people, and the limits of the evidence rather than title or success alone. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: The officer manages the gate, the crowd tramples him, and the narrator twice connects his death to Elisha's word. In 2 Kings 7:18, the concrete line “And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures….” Use entrusted authority transparently, protect people affected by the decision, record who is responsible, and submit claimed spiritual or political necessity to independent review. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: The officer manages the gate, the crowd tramples him, and the narrator twice connects his death to Elisha's word.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Kings 7:17–20 — The doubting officer is trampled at the gateSources 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 7:17–20, 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 7:17–20
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. 637–638, translation and translator notes for 7:17–20
Open source ↗