2 Kings 2:21 (DRB)

Passage

He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 2:19 And the men of the city, said to Eliseus . Behold the situation of this city is very good, as thou, my lord, seest: but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren.

2 Kings 2:20 And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when they had brought it,

2 Kings 2:21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness.

2 Kings 2:22 And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Eliseus, which he spoke.

2 Kings 2:23 And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "healed", "went", "spring", "waters", "cast", "salt", "said", and "thus". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "healed" and "went", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And he said Bring me a new..." into verse 22's "And the waters were healed unto this...", so "healed" and "went" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "healed" and "went" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.