2 KingsChapter 6

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¹The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Please look. The place where we meet with you is too small for us. ²Please let us go to the Jordan. Each of us can get a log there. Then we can build a place to live there." "Go," Elisha said. ³Then one of them said, "Please come with your servants." "I will come," he answered. ⁴So Elisha went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down trees. ⁵One of them was cutting down a tree. The iron ax head fell into the water. "Oh no, master!" he cried out. "It was borrowed!" ⁶"Where did it fall?" the man of God asked. The man showed him the place. Then the man of God cut a stick and threw it there. He made the iron float. ⁷"Pick it up," he said. So the man reached out his hand and took it. ⁸Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. He talked with his officers. Then he said, "My camp will be at this place." ⁹Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel. He said, "Be careful not to go past this place. The Arameans are going down there." ¹⁰So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Elisha warned the king again and again. So the king was on guard in those places. ¹¹This made the king of Aram very angry. He called his officers and demanded, "Tell me! Which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?" ¹²One of his officers answered, "None of us, my lord the king. It's Elisha, the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel the very words you say in your bedroom." ¹³So the king said, "Go and find out where he is. Then I can send men to capture him." Then the report came back: "Elisha is in Dothan." ¹⁴So the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a large army there. They went at night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵Early the next morning, the servant of the man of God got up and went out. And look! An army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, "Oh no, master! What should we do?" ¹⁶"Don't be afraid," Elisha answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." ¹⁷Then Elisha prayed, "LORD, please open his eyes so he can see." So the LORD opened the young man's eyes. He saw that the hills all around Elisha were full of horses and chariots of fire. ¹⁸The Arameans came down toward him. Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Please strike these people blind." So the LORD struck them blind, just as Elisha asked. ¹⁹Elisha told them, "This isn't the right road. This isn't the right city. Follow me. I'll take you to the man you're looking for." And he led them to Samaria. ²⁰After they went into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open these men's eyes so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes. They looked around and found they were in Samaria. ²¹When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?" ²²"Don't kill them," Elisha answered. "Would you kill men you had captured with your own sword or bow? Give them food and water. Let them eat and drink. Then let them go back to their master." ²³So the king made a big feast for them. When they finished eating and drinking, he sent them away. They went back to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again. ²⁴Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army. He marched up and surrounded Samaria to attack it. ²⁵So there was a terrible famine in Samaria. The army surrounded the city for so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver. About a cup of dove's dung sold for five shekels of silver.a ²⁶The king of Israel was walking along the top of the city wall. A woman cried out to him, "Help me, my lord the king!" ²⁷He answered, "If the LORD doesn't help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" ²⁸Then the king asked her, "What's wrong?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we can eat him. Tomorrow we'll eat my son.' ²⁹So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we can eat him.' But she had hidden her son." ³⁰When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. He was walking along the wall. The people looked and saw that he had sackcloth under his clothes, next to his skin. ³¹He said, "May God punish me, and punish me terribly, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat is still on his shoulders by the end of today!" ³²Elisha was sitting in his house. The elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead. But before he got there, Elisha said to the elders, "Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door. Keep him out. Isn't that the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?" ³³Elisha was still talking with them when the messenger came down to him. And the king said, "This trouble is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"