2 Kings 3:14

Webster's Bible (1833)

Elisha said, As Yahweh of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלִישָׁ֗ע חַי־יְהוָ֤ה צְבָאוֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָמַ֣דְתִּי לְפָנָ֔יו כִּ֗י לוּלֵ֛י פְּנֵ֛י יְהוֹשָׁפָ֥ט מֶֽלֶךְ־יְהוּדָ֖ה אֲנִ֣י נֹשֵׂ֑א אִם־אַבִּ֥יט אֵלֶ֖יךָ וְאִם־אֶרְאֶֽךָּ׃

Transliteration

wa-yōʾmer ʾĔlîšāʿ, ḥay-YHWH ṣĕbāʾôt whom I-ʿāmadtî before-him, that if-not pĕnê Yĕhôšāpāṭ king-of-Yĕhûdāh I nōśēʾ, if-I-ʾabbîṭ toward-you and-if-I-ʾerʾekkā.

Grammar Details

• *wa-yōʾmer*: conjunction + qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - and he said
• *ʾĔlîšāʿ*: proper name - Elisha
• *ḥay-YHWH*: construct relationship - as YHWH lives
• *ṣĕbāʾôt*: masculine plural noun - hosts/armies
• *ʿāmadtî*: qal perfect, 1st common singular - I have stood
• *lûlê*: conditional particle - if not/were it not for
• *pĕnê*: construct plural noun - face of/presence of
• *Yĕhôšāpāṭ*: proper name - Jehoshaphat
• *Yĕhûdāh*: proper name - Judah
• *nōśēʾ*: qal participle, masculine singular - lifting up/regarding
• *ʾabbîṭ*: hiphil imperfect, 1st common singular - I would look
• *ʾerʾekkā*: qal imperfect, 1st common singular with 2nd masculine singular suffix - I would see you

Word Meanings

• *ḥay-YHWH*: as the LORD lives/by the life of the LORD
• *ṣĕbāʾôt*: of hosts/armies/heavenly forces
• *nōśēʾ*: regard/respect/pay attention to
• *ʾabbîṭ*: look at/pay attention to
• *ʾerʾekkā*: see you/notice you/acknowledge you

Referenced Verses

• 1 Kgs 17:1 : 1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
• 2 Kgs 5:16 : 16 But he said, As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. He urged him to take it; but he refused.
• 2 Chr 17:3-9 : 3 Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn't seek the Baals, 4 but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. 5 Therefore Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6 His heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 7 Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben Hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8 and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9 They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Yahweh with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.
• 2 Chr 19:3-4 : 3 Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God. 4 Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem: and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
• Ps 15:4 : 4 In whose eyes a vile man is despised, But who honors those who fear Yahweh; He who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn't change;
• Jer 1:18 : 18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the land.
• Dan 5:17-23 : 17 Then Daniel answered before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18 You king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty: 19 and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he killed, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 21 and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals', and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whoever he will. 22 You his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.
• Matt 22:16 : 16 They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter who you teach, for you aren't partial to anyone.
• 1 Kgs 18:15 : 15 Elijah said, As Yahweh of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.
• 1 Kgs 21:20 : 20 Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, my enemy? He answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh.
• 1 Sam 15:26-31 : 26 Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel. 27 As Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold on the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 29 Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, Please, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God. 31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.
• 1 Kgs 14:5-9 : 5 Yahweh said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shall you tell her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will feign herself to be another woman. 6 It was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, you wife of Jeroboam; why feign you yourself to be another? for I am sent to you with heavy news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, 9 but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back: 10 therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it be all gone. 11 Him who dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat: for Yahweh has spoken it. 12 Arise you therefore, get you to your house: [and] when your feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 13 All Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover Yahweh will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. 15 For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Yahweh to anger. 16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin. 17 Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: [and] as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 All Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.