4 Kings 4:42
And a certain man came from Baalsalisa bringing to the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and new corn in his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they may eat.
Open 4 Kings 4:42 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Vir autem quidam venit de Baalsalisa deferens viro Dei panes primitiarum, viginti panes hordeaceos, et frumentum novum in pera sua. At ille dixit : Da populo, ut comedat.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἀνὴρ διῆλθεν ἐκ Βαιθσαρεῖσα καὶ ἤνεγκεν πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ θεοῦ πρωτογενημάτων εἴκοσι ἄρτους κριθίνους καὶ παλάθας· καὶ εἶπεν Δότε τῷ λαῷ καὶ ἐσθιέτωσαν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְאִ֨ישׁ בָּ֜א מִבַּ֣עַל שָׁלִ֗שָׁה וַיָּבֵא֩ לְאִ֨ישׁ הָאֱלֹהִ֜ים לֶ֤חֶם בִּכּוּרִים֙ עֶשְׂרִֽים לֶ֣חֶם שְׂעֹרִ֔ים וְכַרְמֶ֖ל בְּצִקְלֹנ֑וֹ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר תֵּ֥ן לָעָ֖ם וְיֹאכֵֽלוּ
Haydock's commentary
Baalsalisa, 15 miles south of Diospolis, and to the north of Jerusalem. (Calmet)
His scrip. Hebrew bctsiklono. Protestants, "in the husk thereof." Carmel, means a greenish ear of corn, (Haydock) which might be rubbed in the hand, and so eaten. (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, Christ's Connection with the Creator Shown from Several Incidents in the Old Testament, Compared with St. Luke's Narrative of the Mission of the Disciples. The Feeding of the Multitude. The Confession of St. Peter. Being Ashamed of Christ. This Shame is Only Possible of the True Christ. Marcionite Pretensions Absurd
He sends forth His disciples to preach the kingdom of God. Does He here say of what God? He forbids their taking anything for their journey, by way of either food or raiment. Who would have given such a commandment as this, but He who feeds the ravens and clothes the flowers of the field? Who anciently enjoined for the treading ox an unmuzzled mouth, that he might be at liberty to gather his fodder from his labour, on the principle that the worker is worthy of his hire? Marcion may expunge such precepts, but no matter, provided the sense of them survives. But when He charges them to shake off the dust of their feet against such as should refuse to receive them, He also bids that this be done as a witness . …
Tertullian On Prayer, Of the Power of Prayer
For what has God, who exacts it ever denied to prayer coming from “spirit and truth?” How mighty specimens of its efficacy do we read, and hear, and believe! Old-world prayer, indeed, used to free from fires, and from beasts, and from famine; and yet it had not (then) received its form from Christ. But how far more amply operative is Christian prayer! It does not station the angel of dew in mid-fires, nor muzzle lions, nor transfer to the hungry the rustics’ bread; it has no delegated grace to avert any sense of suffering; but it supplies the suffering, and the feeling, and the grieving, with endurance: it amplifies grace by virtue, that faith may know what she obtains from the Lord, understanding what, for God’s name’s sake, she suffers. But in days gone by, withal prayer used to call down plagues, scatter the armies of foes, withhold the wholesome influences of the showers. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew XIV. 13
But John saith also, that they were “barley loaves,”not mentioning it without object, but teaching us to trample under foot the pride of costly living. Such was the diet of the prophets also.