2 Kings 7:1-2

7:1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah ¹  of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” 7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man ²  responded to the prophet, ³  “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” ⁴  Elisha ⁵  said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” ⁶ 

2 Kings 6:32

6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. ⁷  The king ⁸  sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, ⁹  Elisha ¹⁰  said to the leaders, ¹¹  “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” ¹²  Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” ¹³ 

Genesis 18:14

18:14 Is anything impossible ¹⁴  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ 

[7:1]  ¹ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “man of God.”

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

[6:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the elders were sitting with him.”

[6:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “sent a man from before him, before the messenger came to him.”

[6:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “elders.”

[6:32]  ¹² tn Heb “Do you see that this son of an assassin has sent to remove my head?”

[6:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

[18:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

[18:14]  ¹⁵ sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.