Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

2 Kings 6:20

As they entered the city, Elisha prayed, "O God , open their eyes so they can see where they are." God opened their eyes. They looked around—they were trapped in Samaria!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blindness;   Israel;   Joram;   Prayer;   Samaria;   Scofield Reference Index - Bible Prayers;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Miracles Wrought through Servants of God;   Syria;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ben-Hadad;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Elisha;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - War, Holy War;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hagar;   War;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ben-Hadad;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jehoram;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Samaria;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Elisha;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Eli'sha;   Sama'ria;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
Hebrew Names Version
It happened, when they were come into Shomron, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Shomron.
King James Version
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord , open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
English Standard Version
As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O Lord , open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
New Century Version
After they entered Samaria, Elisha said, " Lord , open these men's eyes so they can see." So the Lord opened their eyes, and the Aramean army saw that they were inside the city of Samaria!
New English Translation
When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O Lord , open their eyes, so they can see." The Lord opened their eyes and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
Amplified Bible
When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men, so that they may see." And the LORD opened their eyes and they saw. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
New American Standard Bible
When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men, so that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And when they were come to Samaria, Elisha saide, Lorde, open their eyes that they may see. And the Lorde opened their eyes, and they saw, & beholde, they were in the mids of Samaria.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now it happened that when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "O Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Contemporary English Version
When all the soldiers were inside the city, Elisha prayed, " Lord , now let them see again." The Lord let them see that they were standing in the middle of Samaria.
Complete Jewish Bible
On their arrival in Shomron, Elisha said, " Adonai , open the eyes of these men, so that they can see." Adonai opened their eyes, and they saw: there they were, in the middle of Shomron.
Darby Translation
And it came to pass when they entered into Samaria, that Elisha said, Jehovah, open the eyes of these [men] that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Easy-to-Read Version
When they arrived at Samaria, Elisha said, " Lord , open the eyes of these men so that they can see." Then the Lord opened their eyes, and the Aramean army saw they were in the city of Samaria!
George Lamsa Translation
And when they were come into Samaria, Elisha said, O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Good News Translation
As soon as they had entered the city, Elisha prayed, "Open their eyes, Lord , and let them see." The Lord answered his prayer; he restored their sight, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.
Lexham English Bible
It happened at the moment they came to Samaria, Elisha said, "O Yahweh, open the eyes of these that they may see," so Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw, and look, the middle of Samaria!
Literal Translation
And it happened, when they came to Samaria, Elisha said, Open the eyes of these, O Jehovah, and they will see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they looked; and, behold, they were in the middle of Samaria!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan they came to Samaria, Eliseus sayde: LORDE open these mens eyes, yt they maye se. And the LORDE opened their eyes, yt they sawe, & beholde, they were in the myddes of Samaria.
American Standard Version
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Jehovah, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Bible in Basic English
And when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, let the eyes of these men be open so that they may see. And the Lord made their eyes open, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But it fortuned that when they were come to Samaria, Elisa sayde: Lorde, open their eyes that they may see. And the Lorde opened their eyes, and they sawe, & behold they were in the middes of Samaria.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said: 'LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.' And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
King James Version (1611)
And it came to passe when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and beholde, they were in the mids of Samaria.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And it came to pass when they entered into Samaria, that Elisaie said, Open, I pray thee, O Lord, their eyes, and let them see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
English Revised Version
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Berean Standard Bible
When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see." Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered they were in Samaria.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne thei hadden entrid into Samarie, Elisee seide, Lord, opene thou the iyen of these men, that thei see. And the Lord openyde her iyen, and thei siyen, that thei weren in the myddis of Samarie.
Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, at their coming in to Samaria, that Elisha saith, `Jehovah, open the eyes of these, and they see;' and Jehovah openeth their eyes, and they see, and lo, in the midst of Samaria!
Update Bible Version
And it came to pass, when they had come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and, look, they were in the midst of Samaria.
Webster's Bible Translation
And it came to pass, when they had come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these [men], that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, [they were] in the midst of Samaria.
World English Bible
It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
New King James Version
So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!
New Living Translation
As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, "O Lord , now open their eyes and let them see." So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
New Life Bible
When they had come to Samaria, Elisha said, "O Lord, open the eyes of these men. Let them see." So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw. They saw they were in the center of Samaria.
New Revised Standard
As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O Lord , open the eyes of these men so that they may see." The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it came to pass, when they had entered Samaria, that Elisha said, O Yahweh! open the eyes of these men, that they may see! And Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw, and lo! they were in the midst of Samaria!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.
Revised Standard Version
As soon as they entered Sama'ria, Eli'sha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and lo, they were in the midst of Sama'ria.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

Contextual Overview

13 The king said, "Go and find out where he is. I'll send someone and capture him." The report came back, "He's in Dothan." 14 Then he dispatched horses and chariots, an impressive fighting force. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15 Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, "Oh, master! What shall we do?" 16 He said, "Don't worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side." 17 Then Elisha prayed, "O God , open his eyes and let him see." The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha! 18 When the Arameans attacked, Elisha prayed to God , "Strike these people blind!" And God struck them blind, just as Elisha said. 19 Then Elisha called out to them, "Not that way! Not this city! Follow me and I'll lead you to the man you're looking for." And he led them into Samaria. 20 As they entered the city, Elisha prayed, "O God , open their eyes so they can see where they are." God opened their eyes. They looked around—they were trapped in Samaria! 21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "Father, shall I massacre the lot?" 22 "Not on your life!" said Elisha. "You didn't lift a hand to capture them, and now you're going to kill them? No sir, make a feast for them and send them back to their master."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

open the eyes: 2 Kings 6:17, Luke 24:31

opened: Judges 20:40-42, Luke 16:23

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:7 - And the 2 Kings 4:33 - prayed

Cross-References

Genesis 6:8
But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.
Genesis 6:11
As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see,.... So as to know where they were:

and the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria; the gates being thrown open for them, and they led into the very heart of the city; for, no doubt, Elisha sent his servant before, to acquaint the king of Israel with what he was doing; who got a sufficient number of armed men to enclose them, and fall upon them, when put into his hands, as appears by what follows.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 6:20. Open the eyes of these men — Take away their confusion of vision, that they may discern things as they are, and distinguish where they are.


 
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