4 Kings 4:8
And there was a day when Eliseus passed by Sunam: now there was a great woman there, who detained him to eat bread; and as he passed often that way, he turned into her house to eat bread.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Facta est autem quædam dies, et transibat Eliseus per Sunam : erat autem ibi mulier magna, quæ tenuit eum ut comederet panem : cumque frequenter inde transiret, divertebat ad eam ut comederet panem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἐγένετο ἡμέρα καὶ διέβη Ἐλεισαῖε εἰς Σουμάν, καὶ ἐκεῖ γυνὴ μεγάλη καὶ ἐκράτησεν αὐτὸν φαγεῖν ἄρτον· καὶ ἐγένετο ἀφ᾽ ἱκανοῦ τοῦ εἰσπορεύεσθαι αὐτὸν ἐξέκλινεν τοῦ ἐκεῖ φαγεῖν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְהִ֨י הַיּ֜וֹם וַיַּעֲבֹ֧ר אֱלִישָׁ֣ע אֶל שׁוּנֵ֗ם וְשָׁם֙ אִשָּׁ֣ה גְדוֹלָ֔ה וַתַּחֲזֶק בּ֖וֹ לֶאֱכָל לָ֑חֶם וַֽיְהִי֙ מִדֵּ֣י עָבְר֔וֹ יָסֻ֥ר שָׁ֖מָּה לֶאֱכָל לָֽחֶם
Haydock's commentary
Sunam, the birth-place of the beautiful virgin Abisag, (3 Kings i. 3.) at the foot of Thabor, (Calmet) and not above a mile from Carmel, ver. 23. (Tirinus)
Great woman, "renowned for piety" (Arabic) and riches, ver. 13. (Tirinus) (Menochius)
"Fearing sins." (Chaldean) This was true greatness! (Haydock)
Eliseus often passed by her house, when he went to visit the colleges [of prophets] at Bethel, Jericho, &c. (Menochius)
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
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Monks
5. For thus it is written, my beloved, concerning Moses, that from the time the Holy One was revealed to him, he also loved holiness. And from the time he was sanctified, his wife ministered not to him. But it is thus written: Joshua, the son of Nun, was the minister of Moses from his childhood . And of Joshua again it is thus written concerning him, that he used not to depart from the tabernacle . And the temporal tabernacle was not ministered to by a woman, because the Law did not allow women to enter the temporal tabernacle, but even when they came to pray, they used to pray at the door of the temporal tabernacle, and then turn back. Moreover, he commanded the Priests, that at the time of their ministry they should continue in holiness, and should not know their wives. …