4 Kings 4:35
Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes.
Open 4 Kings 4:35 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- At ille reversus, deambulavit in domo, semel huc atque illuc : et ascendit, et incubuit super eum : et oscitavit puer septies, aperuitque oculos.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν, καὶ ἀνέβη καὶ συνέκαμψεν ἐπὶ τὸ παιδάριον ἕως ἑπτάκις· καὶ ἤνοιξεν τὸ παιδάριον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיָּ֜שָׁב וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ בַּבַּ֗יִת אַחַ֥ת הֵ֨נָּה֙ וְאַחַ֣ת הֵ֔נָּה וַיַּ֖עַל וַיִּגְהַ֣ר עָלָ֑יו וַיְזוֹרֵ֤ר הַנַּ֨עַר֙ עַד שֶׁ֣בַע פְּעָמִ֔ים וַיִּפְקַ֥ח הַנַּ֖עַר אֶת עֵינָֽיו
Haydock's commentary
Upon him. Septuagint, "he breathed," &c. (Calmet)
Other copies, (Alexandrian and Vatican) "he bent down upon the child seven times, and the child opened his eyes."
Gaped. Protestants, "sneezed;" (Haydock) in which interpretation, Junius, Montanus, &c., agree. Arabic, "he turned his eyes about seven times." Others, "he trembled," (Calmet) or sighed; (Menochius) or Eliseus "clasped him in his arms," &c. The child died of a headache; (ver. 19.) and sneezing is accounted good for alleviating the pain. Sternutamenta capitis gravedinem emendant. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxviii. 6.) (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
St Augustine Letter CXXXVII
13. “But,” they say, “the proofs of so great majesty did not shine forth with adequate fulness of evidence; for the casting out of devils, the healing of the sick, and the restoration of the dead to life are but small works for God to do, if the others who have wrought similar wonders be borne in mind.” We ourselves admit that the prophets wrought some miracles like those performed by Christ. For among these miracles what is more wonderful than the raising of the dead? Yet both Elijah and Elisha did this. As to the miracles of magicians, and the question whether they also raised the dead, let those pronounce an opinion who strive, not as accusers, but as panegyrists, to prove Apuleius guilty of those charges of practising magical arts from which he himself takes abundant pains to defend his reputation. …
St Augustine Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter XV. 24, 25
2. But what is meant when, after saying, “If I had not done among them works,” He immediately added, “which none other man did”? Of a certainty, among all the works of Christ, none seem to be greater than the raising of the dead; and yet we know that the same was done by the prophets of olden time. For Elias did so; and Elisha also, both when alive in the flesh, and when he lay buried in his sepulchre. For when certain men, who were carrying a dead person, had fled thither for refuge from an onset of their enemies, and had laid him down therein, he instantly came again to life. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXI
17. But there is in some copies, “For I have not known literature.” Where some books have “trading,” there others “literature:” how they may accord is a hard matter to find out; and yet the discrepancy of interpreters perchance showeth the meaning, introduceth no error. Let us inquire then how to understand literature also, lest we offend grammarians in the same way as we did traders a little before: because a grammarian too may live honourably in his calling, and neither forswear nor lie. Let us examine then the literature which he hath not known, in whose mouth all the day long is the praise of God. …