2 Kings 6:27 kjv
And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
2 Kings 6:27 nkjv
And he said, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"
2 Kings 6:27 niv
The king replied, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?"
2 Kings 6:27 esv
And he said, "If the LORD will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?"
2 Kings 6:27 nlt
He answered, "If the LORD doesn't help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you."
2 Kings 6 27 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Psa 121:1-2 | I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD… | God is the sole source of help and salvation. |
| Psa 146:5-6 | Happy is he… whose hope is in the LORD his God… the Maker of heaven and earth… | Blessing comes from trusting in the Creator God for help. |
| Isa 45:7 | I form the light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things. | God's sovereignty over good and ill, demonstrating ultimate control. |
| Lam 3:37-39 | Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? … that a man complains? | All things happen under God's ultimate permission or command. |
| Deut 32:39 | See now that I, I am He, and there is no god beside Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal… | Yahweh alone holds the power of life, death, and healing. |
| Job 5:18 | For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands heal. | God causes distress but also provides deliverance. |
| Hos 13:4 | But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no god but Me… | Exclusive dependence on the LORD is the true path. |
| Acts 4:12 | And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven… | No other power or name can bring ultimate salvation. |
| Phil 4:13 | I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. | Strength for challenges comes only from God. |
| Psa 33:16-17 | The king is not saved by a mighty army; a warrior is not delivered by great strength… | Human power, even military, is insufficient for salvation. |
| Psa 127:1-2 | Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain… | All human effort is fruitless without divine blessing. |
| Prov 21:31 | The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the LORD. | Military readiness is nothing without God's decree. |
| Matt 6:26 | Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather… and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. | God provides for His creation, demonstrating His ability to feed. |
| Luke 12:22-24 | Do not worry about your life, what you will eat… consider the ravens… | Encouragement to trust God for sustenance, rather than worry. |
| 2 Cor 9:8 | And God is able to make all grace abound to you… that you may have a sufficiency in everything. | God provides all needs supernaturally. |
| Deut 8:3 | Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. | God's word and sustenance are paramount, not just physical food. |
| Neh 9:15 | You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water out of a rock… | God's past provision in extreme famine/thirst. |
| 1 Kings 17:15-16 | The jar of flour was not used up nor did the jug of oil run dry… | Example of God miraculously sustaining in famine. |
| Gen 41:54-57 | The seven years of famine began to come… Joseph opened all the storehouses… | Biblical record of famine and the role of leadership in provision. |
| Jer 14:1-6 | Regarding the drought… they look for grass, but there is none. | Depiction of extreme famine, showing its devastations. |
| Joel 1:10-12 | The field is wasted, the land mourns… grain is ruined, new wine dries up… | Prophetic description of widespread famine, echoing empty barnfloor/winepress. |
| Prov 21:1 | The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD… | God sovereignly guides even the heart of the king. |
| Dan 2:21 | He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings… | God's ultimate authority over rulers and kingdoms. |
2 Kings 6 verses
2 Kings 6 27 Meaning
This verse captures the Israelite king's profound helplessness and despair during a severe famine caused by the Syrian siege of Samaria. He asserts that if the LORD God does not provide salvation or relief, he, as king, possesses no earthly means to do so. His rhetorical question, "whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?" vividly conveys the total depletion of the nation's most basic food and liquid supplies, signifying absolute destitution and the inability of human power or agricultural resources to remedy such a dire situation. The king implicitly declares that true deliverance in this crisis can only come from divine intervention.
2 Kings 6 27 Context
The passage describes a severe siege of Samaria, the capital of Israel, by Ben-hadad, king of Syria. The siege has resulted in an extreme famine within the city walls, leading to unspeakable horrors, including cannibalism among its inhabitants. Verse 27 occurs after a desperate woman appeals to the king for justice concerning an agreement to eat her son, after they had already eaten her friend's son. The king, horrified by her revelation, tears his clothes, revealing sackcloth worn underneath, indicating a hidden repentance or deep distress before the LORD. His words in verse 27 are a response to her plea, demonstrating his powerlessness as a human monarch to alleviate such profound suffering and provide basic sustenance during this divine judgment. This stark reality sets the stage for God's dramatic and immediate intervention through the prophet Elisha, highlighting divine sovereignty over human limitations.
2 Kings 6 27 Word analysis
- And he said: Refers to the king of Israel, most likely King Joram (or Jehoram), son of Ahab (cf. 2 Kings 3:1). His utterance highlights his royal authority, yet paradoxically, his abject powerlessness in this crisis.
- If the LORD do not help thee:
- Hebrew: אִם־לֹא֙ יֹושִׁ֤יעֲךָ יְהוָה֙ (ʾim-lōʾ yōšīʿăḵā Yahweh)
- יְהוָה (Yahweh): The covenant name of God, revealing Him as the sovereign and faithful God of Israel. The king's use of this name suggests an acknowledgement, perhaps born of despair, that the ultimate solution lies with Israel's true God, not with human power or other deities. This implicitly pushes against the idolatrous practices prevalent in the Northern Kingdom, particularly during the Omride dynasty.
- יֹושִׁ֤יעֲךָ (yōšīʿăḵā), from the root יָשַׁע (yashaʿ): To save, deliver, help, bring salvation. This word signifies a comprehensive and powerful act of rescue, indicating that what is needed is beyond mere human assistance. The implication is that only the saving power of Yahweh can provide true and complete relief.
- The conditional "If...not" emphasizes that this help must originate from Yahweh; otherwise, no help is possible.
- whence shall I help thee?:
- Hebrew: מֵאַ֥יִן אֹושִׁיעֵֽךְ׃ (mēʾayīn ʾōšīʿēḵ)
- This is a rhetorical question, expecting the answer "from nowhere" or "I cannot." It starkly expresses the king's admission of his own profound inability and the complete emptiness of human resources and royal power to resolve the crisis.
- out of the barnfloor:
- Hebrew: הֲמִן־הַגֹּ֖רֶן (hāmin-haggōren)
- הַגֹּ֖רֶן (haggōren): The threshing floor; a place where grain was separated from chaff and then stored. This was a vital center for a community's sustenance, representing the harvest of grain—a staple food. Its emptiness means no more bread or basic provisions.
- or out of the winepress?:
- Hebrew: וְהַיָּֽקֶב׃ (wəhayyāqeḇ)
- וְהַיָּֽקֶב (wəhayyāqeḇ): The winepress; where grapes were trodden to produce wine. Wine (and its constituent, grapes) was another fundamental agricultural product, offering sustenance and drink. Its emptiness indicates no refreshing liquids or the fruits of the vine.
- [Word-group analysis] "out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?": These two terms are metonyms representing all agricultural bounty and the entire stored wealth of an agrarian society. Their pairing vividly conveys the utter collapse of the natural and cultivated food supply due to the prolonged siege. This underscores the catastrophic level of the famine, highlighting that every ordinary means of survival has been exhausted, forcing an acknowledgment that only extraordinary, divine help can possibly suffice. This phrase is also a subtle polemic, implicitly critiquing reliance on land productivity or fertility deities (like Baal) which were supposedly responsible for good harvests; here, the land is barren and only Yahweh can bring forth life.
2 Kings 6 27 Bonus section
The king's immediate and dramatic reaction in 2 Kings 6:30—tearing his clothes upon hearing the woman's gruesome story—reinforces the profound distress expressed in verse 27. The hidden sackcloth worn beneath his royal garments reveals that his despair and possible repentance were already present, a secret acknowledgement of the dire situation and perhaps God's role in it, even before this woman's plea forced him to vocalize his helplessness. This internal spiritual state of the king contrasts sharply with the public image of a capable ruler and underscores the extreme nature of the famine, which stripped away all pretensions of human self-sufficiency. This verse, therefore, acts as a pivot, marking the moment when the king and, by extension, the kingdom must look beyond themselves for deliverance, thus preparing the ground for the miraculous provision prophesied by Elisha in the very next chapter.
2 Kings 6 27 Commentary
King Joram's response to the desperate woman epitomizes the despair and ultimate recognition of God's sovereignty during a period of national calamity. Despite being a king with immense power, his rhetorical question acknowledges his absolute incapacity to provide sustenance. The mention of the empty barnfloor and winepress, central to the lifeblood of an agrarian society, graphically paints the picture of a society pushed to its absolute limits, devoid of even the most basic necessities. This scene highlights that earthly rulers, with all their armies and resources, are helpless when God's hand of judgment, or even just allowance, is upon a land. The king's hidden sackcloth indicates a glimmer of repentance or profound awareness of the divine wrath. His declaration effectively shifts the gaze from human insufficiency to divine omnipotence, setting the stage for Elisha's prophecy of supernatural provision and challenging any trust in idols or human institutions. This admission of human limitations paves the way for a demonstration of God's limitless power and faithfulness.