2 Kings 2:21 (LSB)

Passage

And he went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or barrenness any longer.’”

Nearby Context

2 Kings 2:19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the habitat of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

2 Kings 2:20 And he said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

2 Kings 2:21 And he went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or barrenness any longer.’”

2 Kings 2:22 So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

2 Kings 2:23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young boys came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "went", "spring", "water", "threw", "salt", "said", "thus", and "says". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "went" and "spring", 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 "So the waters have been purified to...", so "went" and "spring" 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 "went" and "spring" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.