Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 6:27
And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
27. If the Lord do not help thee ] There is some difficulty here. The word rendered ‘if not’ is that which in Hebrew is generally put with an imperative = ‘Let not’. So that the sense would be ‘May the Lord not help thee’. So the LXX. But such a wish could hardly have come at such a time into the king’s mind. The R.V. (marg.) attempts to keep the imperative force thus, ‘Nay, let the Lord help thee’. This comes a little nearer the sense of the English versions. But there is no warrant for separating the negative particle in this way from its verb. Perhaps it is best to explain the negative particle, as if the verb belonging to it were suppressed. Thus ‘Do not (cry to me); the Lord must help thee; for I cannot’. In this way the sense given in the English versions would be the correct force of the words.
out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? ] i.e. with anything to eat or to drink. The supply of both was utterly spent, as the whole city knew. For the expression cf. Hos 9:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If the Lord do not help – The translation in the text is decidedly better than the marginal rendering. Some prefer to render – Nay … let Jehovah help thee. Whence, shall I help thee?
Out of the barnfloor … – The king means that both were empty – that he had no longer any food in store; and therefore could not help the woman. Compare Hos 9:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. If the Lord do not help thee] Some read this as an imprecation, May God save thee not! how can I save thee?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If the Lord do not help thee, or, let not God help thee, as some both ancient and late interpreters render the words. So they are words of impatience, and rage, and a formal curse, wishing that God would not help her, as he could not, as Josephus, amongst others, understand it; which agrees too well with the character of the man, an infidel, and an idolater, and a wicked man, and at this time in a great rage, as appears from 2Ki 6:31. Or they may be rendered thus, No; (as this Hebrew particle is sometimes used, as Job 20:17; Psa 24:5; Psa 41:2; 50:3; Pro 3:3,5; 31:4) let the Lord help thee. So it may be taken, either, first, As a direction: No; do not cry to me, but to God, for help: God help thee, for I cannot. Or rather, secondly, As a profane scoff: No; come not to me, but go to him to whom Elisha directs you; pray to the Lord: you see how ready he is to help you, by his suffering you to come to this extremity; wait upon God for relief, as Elisha adviseth me; but I will wait no longer for him, 2Ki 6:33, and I will take a course with Elisha for thus abusing both me and my people with vain hopes. Or thus, The Lord (on whom forsooth thou and I are commanded to wait for help) will not help thee, as he could easily do, and would do, if he were so good as Elisha pretends; whence then shall I help thee?
Out of the barn-floor, or out of the winepress? Dost thou ask of me corn or wine, which I want for myself?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?…. Mistaking her meaning, as if she prayed him to relieve her hunger; the margin of our Bible is, “let not the Lord save thee”; and so some understand it as a wish that she might perish; and so Josephus o, that being wroth, he cursed her in the name of God:
out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress? when neither of them afforded anything; no corn was to be had from the one, nor wine from the other, no, not for his own use, and therefore how could he help her out of either?
o Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) If the Lord do not help thee.This is right. The marginal rendering, Let not the Lord help thee!i.e., May the Lord destroy thee! would be possible in another context. Another rendering is, Nay (i.e., do not supplicate me), let the Lord help thee!
Out of the barnfloor.Comp. Hosea ix 2.: The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. Jehoram, in the irony of despair, reminds the woman of what she well knowsviz., that the corn and wine, the staple foods of the time, are long since exhausted. The words, If the Lord do not help thee, may be compared with 2Ki. 3:10, Alas! that the Lord hath called, &c. The character of Jehoram is consistently drawn. But perhaps the point is: Jehovah alone is the giver of corn and wine (Hos. 2:8-9). Appeal not to me for these.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Out of the barnfloor Can I gather up grain for thee from the smooth rock or cleanly swept surface of the threshingfloor, or fruit from the empty and deserted winepress? Have I power to turn stones into bread?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 6:27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
Ver. 27. If the Lord do not help thee. ] Or – by way of angry imprecation – Let not the Lord save thee; that is, God confound thee; a Dii te perdant, Dii tibi male faxint, said the heathens in like case. b
a Dispereas.
b Vatab.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
If the LORD do not help thee. Hebrew reads “Let not Jehovah help thee”, as in Authorized Version margin The Revised Version “Nay, let Jehovah help thee”, is contrary to the normal sense of this negative. Ginsburg suggests that ‘al (not) is an abbreviation for ‘im lo, which is the exact equivalent for the Authorized Version text.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
If the Lord: etc. or, Let not the Lord save thee
whence: Psa 60:11, Psa 62:8, Psa 118:8, Psa 118:9, Psa 124:1-3, Psa 127:1, Psa 146:3, Isa 2:2, Jer 17:5
Reciprocal: Gen 41:16 – It is not Num 18:27 – the corn Deu 28:8 – storehouses 1Sa 28:16 – Wherefore 2Ki 4:2 – What shall I Job 21:4 – if it were Psa 107:12 – and there Ecc 10:13 – beginning
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the {o} barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
(o) Meaning, any kind of food as corn and wine.