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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Young's Literal Translation

2 Kings 4:19

and he saith unto his father, `My head, my head;' and he saith unto the young man, `Bear him unto his mother;'

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

Christian Standard Bible®
Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!”
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.
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

18 And the lad groweth, and the day cometh that he goeth out unto his father, unto the reapers, 19 and he saith unto his father, `My head, my head;' and he saith unto the young man, `Bear him unto his mother;' 20 and he beareth him, and bringeth him in unto his mother, and he sitteth on her knees till the noon, and dieth. 21 And she goeth up, and layeth him on the bed of the man of God, and shutteth [the door] upon him, and goeth out, 22 and calleth unto her husband, and saith, `Send, I pray thee, to me, one of the young men, and one of the asses, and I run unto the man of God, and return.' 23 And he saith, `Wherefore art thou going unto him to-day? -- neither new moon nor sabbath!' and she saith, `Peace [to thee]!' 24 And she saddleth the ass, and saith unto her young man, `Lead, and go, do not restrain riding for me, except I have said [so] to thee.' 25 And she goeth, and cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill of Carmel, and it cometh to pass, at the man of God's seeing her from over-against, that he saith unto Gehazi his young man, `Lo, this Shunammite; 26 now, run, I pray thee, to meet her, and say to her, Is there peace to thee? is there peace to thy husband? is there peace to the lad?' and she saith, `Peace.' 27 And she cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill, and layeth hold on his feet, and Gehazi cometh nigh to thrust her away, and the man of God saith, `Let her alone, for her soul [is] bitter to her, and Jehovah hath hidden [it] from me, and hath not declared [it] to 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
And Jehovah God saith, `Not good for the man to be alone, I do make to him an helper -- as his counterpart.'
Genesis 2:24
therefore doth a man leave his father and his mother, and hath cleaved unto his wife, and they have become one flesh.
Genesis 4:4
and Abel, he hath brought, he also, from the female firstlings of his flock, even from their fat ones; and Jehovah looketh unto Abel and unto his present,
Genesis 4:6
And Jehovah saith unto Cain, `Why hast thou displeasure? and why hath thy countenance fallen?
Matthew 19:8
He saith to them -- `Moses for your stiffness of heart did suffer you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it hath not been so.

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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