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Sunday, June 8th, 2025
Pentacost
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Read the Bible

Christian Standard Bible ®

2 Kings 4:19

Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!”

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Children;   Elisha;   Miracles;   Shunammite;   Sunstroke;   Women;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Cares of Motherhood;   Children;   Diseases;   Health-Disease;   Home;   Motherhood, Cares of;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Sun-Stroke;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diseases;   Head;   Parents;   Sun, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Gehazi;   Shunem;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Elisha;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disease;   Heal, Health;   Miracle;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hospitality;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Shunem;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Diseases;   Elisha;   Furniture;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Resurrection;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gehazi;   Marriage;   Medicine;   Sun;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gehazi ;   Shunammite ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elisha;   Gehazi;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Eli'sha;   Medicine;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Child;   Gehazi;   Lad;   Sick;   Sun, Smiting by;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
He said to his father, My head, my head. He said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
King James Version
And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
English Standard Version
And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
New Century Version
The boy said to his father, "My head! My head!" The father said to his servant, "Take him to his mother!"
New English Translation
He said to his father, "My head! My head!" His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother."
Amplified Bible
But he said to his father, "My head, my head." The man said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
New American Standard Bible
And he said to his father, "My head, my head!" And his father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
Geneva Bible (1587)
And he sayde to his father, Mine head, mine head. Who sayd to his seruant, Beare him to his mother.
Legacy Standard Bible
And he said to his father, "My head, my head." And he said to his young man, "Carry him to his mother."
Contemporary English Version
Suddenly he shouted, "My head hurts. It hurts a lot!" "Carry him back to his mother," the father said to his servant.
Complete Jewish Bible
Suddenly he cried out to his father, "My head! My head hurts!" He said to his servant, "Carry him back to his mother."
Darby Translation
And he said to his father, My head, my head! And he said to the servant, Carry him to his mother.
Easy-to-Read Version
The boy said to his father, "Oh, my head! My head hurts!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother!"
George Lamsa Translation
And he said to his father, Oh, my head, my head! And his father said to a servant, Take him up and carry him to his mother.
Good News Translation
Suddenly he cried out to his father, "My head hurts! My head hurts!" "Carry the boy to his mother," the father said to a servant.
Lexham English Bible
Then he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he said to the servant, "Carry him to his mother."
Literal Translation
And he said to his father, My head! My head! And he said to the young man, Carry him to his mother.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& sayde vnto his father: Oh my heade, my heade. He saide vnto his seruaut: Bringe him to his mother.
American Standard Version
And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
Bible in Basic English
And he said to his father, My head, my head! And the father said to a servant, Take him in to his mother.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he said vnto his father: My head, my head. And he saide to a lad: Cary him to his mother.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said unto his father: 'My head, my head.' And he said to his servant: 'Carry him to his mother.'
King James Version (1611)
And he said vnto his father, My head, my head: and he said to a ladde, Carie him to his mother.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
that he said to his father, My head, my head. and his father said to a servant, carry him to his mother.
English Revised Version
And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
Berean Standard Bible
"My head! My head!" he complained to his father. So his father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and to the repers, he seide to his fadir, Myn heed akith, myn heed akith. And he seide to a child, Take, and lede hym to his modir.
Young's Literal Translation
and he saith unto his father, `My head, my head;' and he saith unto the young man, `Bear him unto his mother;'
Update Bible Version
And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to his attendant, Carry him to his mother.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
World English Bible
He said to his father, My head, my head. He said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
New King James Version
And he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he said to a servant, "Carry him to his mother."
New Living Translation
Suddenly he cried out, "My head hurts! My head hurts!" His father said to one of the servants, "Carry him home to his mother."
New Life Bible
He said to his father, "O, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
New Revised Standard
He complained to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and he said unto his father - My head! my head! So he said unto the young man, Carry him to his mother.
Douay-Rheims Bible
He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he said to his servant. Take him, and carry him to his mother.
Revised Standard Version
And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He said to his father, "My head, my head." And he said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

Contextual Overview

18The child grew and one day went out to his father and the harvesters. 19Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!”20So he picked him up and took him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon and then died. 21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in, and left. 22She summoned her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can hurry to the man of God and come back again.” 23But he said, “Why go to him today? It’s not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” 24Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Go fast; don’t slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. 26Run out to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’” 27When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone—she is in severe anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn’t told me.”

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

My head: From this peculiar exclamation, and the season of the year, it is probable he was affected by the coup de soleil, or stroke of the sun, which is by no means uncommon in hot climates, and often proves fatal. Job 14:1, Job 14:2, Jeremiah 4:19

Cross-References

Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
Genesis 2:24
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
Genesis 4:4
And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:6
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?
Matthew 19:8
He told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not like that from the beginning.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said unto his father, my head, my head,.... After he had been some time with him, he complained of a pain in his head, which might be owing, as Abarbinel thinks, to the sun's beating upon it, being harvest time, and hot weather; and the pain being exceeding great and vehement, he repeated his complaint, see Jeremiah 4:19

and he said to a lad, carry him home to his mother; his father gave orders to a lad that attended the reapers to have him home to his mother, that she might give him something to ease him of his pain.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The child’s malady was a sunstroke. The inhabitants of Palestine suffered from this (Psalms 121:6; Isaiah 49:10; Judith 8:3).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 4:19. My head, any head. — Probably affected by the coup de soleil, or sun stroke, which might, in so young a subject, soon occasion death, especially in that hot country.


 
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