2 Kings 7:1 Meaning and Explanation
“Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Elisha announces that God will reverse Samaria's famine by tomorrow, when grain will flood the market.
The Context of 2 Kings 7:1
Samaria is starving under Syrian siege, its people desperate. Elisha speaks into the despair with a specific, testable promise from the Lord.
What Does 2 Kings 7:1 Mean?
We enter a city dying from hunger. Mothers search for anything their children might eat. The siege has lasted so long that a donkey's head fetches eighty shekels. But into this darkness steps Elisha, the Lord's prophet, and speaks a word so concrete that listeners can measure its truth by tomorrow's grain prices. A shekel of flour, two measures of barley for a shekel. The specificity matters: it gives faith something to hold, a deadline, a market-standard proof.
We watch Elisha stake his prophetic authority on the Lord's ability to reverse famine in a single day. This is not vague hope but the Lord's own word, a declaration that all human calculation of shortage and survival has missed the true power at work. The promise points beyond the circumstance to a God who delights in reversing despair, in providing abundantly when His people seem most lost. We too know seasons when circumstances say 'never,' and a word from the Lord that says 'tomorrow' becomes our anchor.
2 Kings 7:1 in the Original Language
saith (λέγει/legei), 'says' -- the prophetic speech-act that carries God's own authority
Where 2 Kings 7:1 Echoes in Scripture
Isaiah 55:11, 'my word shall not return unto me void'; Romans 10:17, 'faith cometh by hearing'
How to Apply 2 Kings 7:1 Today
When we face a crisis that seems to have no exit, we need to hear a word from the Lord that is specific, impossible by human means, and testable. Elisha models prophetic faith that names the future with such clarity that doubt becomes harder than trust.