2 Kings 6:23 (LSB)

Passage

So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 6:21 Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”

2 Kings 6:22 And he said, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and walk back to their master.”

2 Kings 6:23 So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

2 Kings 6:24 Now it happened afterwards, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his military camp and went up and besieged Samaria.

2 Kings 6:25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "prepared", "great", "feast", "eaten", "drunk", "sent", "away", and "went". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "prepared" and "great", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "And he said You shall not strike..." into verse 24's "Now it happened afterwards that Ben-hadad king...", so "prepared" and "great" 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 "prepared" and "great" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.