4 Kings 1:9
And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down.
Open 4 Kings 1:9 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Misitque ad eum quinquagenarium principem, et quinquaginta qui erant sub eo. Qui ascendit ad eum : sedentique in vertice montis, ait : Homo Dei, rex præcepit ut descendas.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἀπέστειλεν πρὸς αὐτὸν πεντηκόνταρχον καὶ τοὺς πεντήκοντα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνέβη πρὸς αὐτόν· καὶ ἰδοὺ Ἠλειοὺ ἐκάθητο ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ ὄρους. καὶ ἐλάλησεν ὁ πεντηκόνταρχος πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν Ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκάλεσέν σε, κατάβηθι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח אֵלָ֛יו שַׂר חֲמִשִּׁ֖ים וַחֲמִשָּׁ֑יו וַיַּ֣עַל אֵלָ֗יו וְהִנֵּה֙ יֹשֵׁב֙ עַל רֹ֣אשׁ הָהָ֔ר וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֵלָ֔יו אִ֚ישׁ הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים הַמֶּ֥לֶךְ דִּבֶּ֖ר רֵֽדָה
Haydock's commentary
Under him; his own guards. The captain was to request him to pray for the king's recovery; (Calmet) or rather, (Haydock) to punish him for what he had said to the messengers. (Calmet)
Of God. Procopius and others think that he spoke contemptuously, and was therefore punished. (Menochius)
Down. The prophets are not bound to obey kings, in the exercise of their ministry. (Grotius)
Elias complies as soon as he had orders from God. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian The Five Books Against Marcion, Impossible that Marcion's Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation. Such Loving Consideration for Infants as the True Christ Was Apt to Shew, Also Impossible for the Other. On the Three Different Characters Confronted and Instructed by Christ in Samaria
I take on myself the character of Israel. Let Marcion’s Christ stand forth, and exclaim, “O faithless generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” He will immediately have to submit to this remonstrance from me: “Whoever you are, O stranger, first tell us who you are, from whom you come, and what right you have over us. Thus far, all you possess belongs to the Creator. Of course, if you come from Him, and are acting for Him, we will bear your reproof. But if you come from some other god, I should wish you to tell us what you have ever committed to us belonging to yourself, which it was our duty to believe, seeing that you are upbraiding us with ‘faithlessness,’ who have never yet revealed to us your own self. …
Pseudo-Tertullian Appendix, Book III
So often from on high rushed fire; the stream
St John Chrysostom Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood, Book I
Chrysostom : But, my admirable and excellent Sir, this is the very reason why I took the precaution of saying that it was a good thing to employ this kind of deceit, not only in war, and in dealing with enemies, but also in peace, and in dealing with our dearest friends. For as a proof that it is beneficial not only to the deceivers, but also to those who are deceived; if you go to any of the physicians and ask them how they relieve their patients from disease, they will tell you that they do not depend upon their professional skill alone, but sometimes conduct the sick to health by availing themselves of deceit, and blending the assistance which they derive from it with their art. …