2 Kings 4:38-39

Elisha Makes a Meal Edible

4:38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him ¹  and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire ²  and boil some stew for the prophets.” ³  4:39 Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. ⁴  He picked some of its fruit, ⁵  enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices ⁶  into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful. ⁷ 

Amos 7:14

7:14 Amos replied ⁸  to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession. ⁹  No, ¹⁰  I was a herdsman who also took care of ¹¹  sycamore fig trees. ¹² 

Luke 15:16

15:16 He ¹³  was longing to eat ¹⁴  the carob pods ¹⁵  the pigs were eating, but ¹⁶  no one gave him anything.

[4:38]  ¹ tn Heb “the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.”

[4:38]  ² tn The words “the fire” are added for clarification.

[4:38]  ³ tn Heb “sons of the prophets.”

[4:39]  ⁴ tn Heb “a vine of the field.”

[4:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “[some] of the gourds of the field.”

[4:39]  ⁶ tn Heb “he came and cut [them up].”

[4:39]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “for they did not know” (יָדָעוּ, yada’u) but some emend the final shureq (וּ, indicating a third plural subject) to holem vav (וֹ, a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on a third singular verb) and read “for he did not know it.” Perhaps it is best to omit the final vav as dittographic (note the vav at the beginning of the next verb form) and read simply, “for he did not know.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

[7:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “replied and said.” The phrase “and said” is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been included in the translation.

[7:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “I was not a prophet nor was I the son of a prophet.” The phrase “son of a prophet” refers to one who was trained in a prophetic guild. Since there is no equative verb present in the Hebrew text, another option is to translate with the present tense, “I am not a prophet by profession.” In this case Amos, though now carrying out a prophetic ministry (v. 15), denies any official or professional prophetic status. Modern English versions are divided about whether to understand the past (JB, NIV, NKJV) or present tense (NASB, NEB, NRSV, NJPS) here.

[7:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for.”

[7:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “gashed”; or “pierced.”

[7:14]  ¹² sn It is possible that herdsmen agreed to care for sycamore fig trees in exchange for grazing rights. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 116-17. Since these trees do not grow around Tekoa but rather in the lowlands, another option is that Amos owned other property outside his hometown. In this case, this verse demonstrates his relative wealth and is his response to Amaziah; he did not depend on prophecy as a profession (v. 13).

[15:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”

[15:16]  ¹⁵ tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).

[15:16]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.