2 Kings 4 in the early church
[LXX: 4 Kingdoms; Vulgate: 4 Kings]
75 passages quote, allude to, or echo 2 Kings 4, grouped by verse; passages on the same verse are in date order. Verse text from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). References use the Protestant English Bible's numbering, with a writer's own numbering in brackets where it differs.
Verses: 1 · 8 · 10 · 13 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 29 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 44
2 Kings 4:1
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:1–7 | Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 82–88 · Anonymous | allusion, high confidence | 5th century (disputed) |
| 2 Kgs 4:1–7 | Sermon 26 · Peter Chrysologus | allusion, high confidence | ca. 425-450 |
| 2 Kgs 4:1–7 | In Praise of the Desert 19 · Eucherius of Lyon | allusion, high confidence | ca. 427-428 |
2 Kings 4:8
One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:8 | Homilies 1.6 · Basil of Caesarea | allusion, high confidence | ca. 363-378 |
| 2 Kgs 4:8–10 | Against Jovinianus 1.26 · Jerome | allusion, high confidence | 393 |
| 2 Kgs 4:8 | Letters 26.1 · Paulinus of Nola | allusion, high confidence | ca. 394–413 |
| 2 Kgs 4:8–37 | Part 2, chapter 31 · Quodvultdeus of Carthage | allusion, high confidence | ca. 445-450 |
2 Kings 4:10
Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:10 | PG 12:1155 (Ps 4 LXX) · Origen | allusion, high confidence | ca. 220-254 |
| 2 Kgs 4:10 | Homilies on Jeremiah 19.13 · Origen | allusion, high confidence | ca. 240 |
| 2 Kgs 4:10 | Oration 26.16 · Gregory of Nazianzus | allusion, high confidence | ca. 362–383 |
2 Kings 4:13
and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:13 | Homilies on Numbers 3.2 · Origen | quotation, high confidence | ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) |
2 Kings 4:16
And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:16–17 | Against Celsus 8.46 · Origen | allusion, high confidence | ca. 248 |
2 Kings 4:17
But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:17 | On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 386–390 |
2 Kings 4:18
And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:18 | Oration II Against the Arians 51 · Athanasius of Alexandria | allusion, medium confidence | ca. 339–346 |
| 2 Kgs 4:18–37 | Sermon 26.11 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 391-430 |
2 Kings 4:25
So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:25 | Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 9 (Song 2:10) · Hippolytus of Rome | allusion, low confidence | ca. 202-235 |
2 Kings 4:26
Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:26 | Against Marcion 4.24 · Tertullian | quotation, high confidence | 207/208 (third edition, completed later) |
2 Kings 4:27
When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:27 | Letter 36.15 · Jerome | quotation, high confidence | ca. 370–419 |
| 2 Kgs 4:27 | Ancoratus 108.4 · Epiphanius of Salamis | allusion, medium confidence | 374 |
| 2 Kgs 4:27 | Exposition of Psalm 118 12.18.3 · Ambrose | quotation, high confidence | ca. 386-397 |
2 Kings 4:29
So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:29 | Against Marcion 4.24 · Tertullian | quotation, high confidence | 207/208 (third edition, completed later) |
| 2 Kgs 4:29–31 | Sermon 136.5 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 391-430 |
| 2 Kgs 4:29–35 | Sermon 136.6 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 391-430 |
| 2 Kgs 4:29–35 | Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.35 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 398–400 |
| 2 Kgs 4:29 | Commentary on Jeremiah 3.61 · Jerome | allusion, high confidence | ca. 414-419 |
| 2 Kgs 4:29 | The Institutes 1.8 · John Cassian | quotation, high confidence | ca. 419–426 |
| 2 Kgs 4:29–35 | Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.11 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 420–421 |
2 Kings 4:32
When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:32–37 | Against Marcellus 1.2.14 · Eusebius of Caesarea | allusion, high confidence | ca. 336–337 |
| 2 Kgs 4:32–35 | Demonstration 4.12 · Aphrahat | allusion, high confidence | 337-345 |
| 2 Kgs 4:32–37 | Sermon 142.7 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, medium confidence | ca. 391-430 |
| 2 Kgs 4:32–35 | Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 82–88 · Anonymous | allusion, high confidence | 5th century (disputed) |
2 Kings 4:33
So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:33 | Oration III Against the Arians 2 · Athanasius of Alexandria | allusion, high confidence | ca. 339–346 |
2 Kings 4:34
Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:34 | Letter 64.3 · Cyprian of Carthage | allusion, high confidence | 249/250–258 |
| 2 Kgs 4:34 | Tractates on the Psalms 118.3.4 · Hilary of Poitiers | allusion, high confidence | ca. 360–367 |
| 2 Kgs 4:34 | On the Christian Faith 3.4 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 378–380 |
| 2 Kgs 4:34 | On the Soul and Its Origin 3.7 · Augustine of Hippo | allusion, high confidence | ca. 419–420 |
2 Kings 4:35
Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
2 Kings 4:38
When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:38 | On Elijah and Fasting 18 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:38–41 | Hexameron (Exameron) 6.5 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
2 Kings 4:39
One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:39 | Hexaemeron 9.1 · Basil of Caesarea | allusion, high confidence | ca. 370 |
| 2 Kgs 4:39 | Homilies 1.6 · Basil of Caesarea | allusion, high confidence | ca. 363-378 |
| 2 Kgs 4:39 | On Elijah and Fasting 18 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:39 | On Elijah and Fasting 40 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
2 Kings 4:40
And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:40 | Commentary on John 13.210 · Origen | quotation, high confidence | ca. 230–248 |
| 2 Kgs 4:40 | Letter 22.9 · Jerome | quotation, high confidence | ca. 370–419 |
| 2 Kgs 4:40 | On Elijah and Fasting 18 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:40 | Letters 23.7 · Paulinus of Nola | quotation, high confidence | ca. 394–413 |
2 Kings 4:41
Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:41 | Letter 22.9 · Jerome | allusion, high confidence | ca. 370–419 |
| 2 Kgs 4:41 | On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 386–390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:41 | On Elijah and Fasting 18 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:41 | Letters 23.7 · Paulinus of Nola | allusion, high confidence | ca. 394–413 |
2 Kings 4:42
Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:42–44 | Against Marcion 4.21 · Tertullian | quotation, high confidence | 207/208 (third edition, completed later) |
| 2 Kgs 4:42 | Homilies on Matthew 49.1 · John Chrysostom | allusion, low confidence | ca. 390 |
| 2 Kgs 4:42–44 | Hexameron (Exameron) 6.6 · Ambrose | quotation, high confidence | ca. 387-390 |
2 Kings 4:44
So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
| Reference | Passage | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 4:44 | On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1 · Ambrose | allusion, high confidence | ca. 386–390 |