2 Kings 2:21 (WEB)

Passage

He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’”

Nearby Context

2 Kings 2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”

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

2 Kings 2:21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’”

2 Kings 2:22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.

2 Kings 2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "healed", "went", "spring", "waters", "threw", "salt", "said", and "yahweh". 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 "He said Bring me a new jar..." into verse 22's "So the waters were healed to 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.