2 Kings 6

¹ The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

² Let us go to the Jordan, and each of us will get a beam from there, and we will make a place there for us to live." He said, "Go."

³ One of them said, "Please come with your servants." He said, "I will come."

⁴ So he went with them. They came to the Jordan and cut down trees.

⁵ As one of them was felling a beam, the iron axe head fell into the water. He cried out, "Oh no, my master! It was borrowed!"

⁶ The man of God said, "Where did it fall?" He showed him the place. Then he cut off a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.

⁷ He said, "Pick it up." So he reached out his hand and took it.

⁸ Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. He consulted with his servants, saying, "My camp will be at such and such a place."

⁹ The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Be on guard not to pass by that place, because the Arameans are going down there."

¹⁰ So the king of Israel sent men to the place that the man of God told him about and warned him of, and he was on guard there—not once or twice.

¹¹ The heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this matter. He called his servants and said to them, "Will you not tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?"

¹² One of his servants said, "No one, my lord the king. But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words you speak in your bedroom."

¹³ He said, "Go, find out where he is, so I can send men to seize him." He was told, "He is in Dothan."

¹⁴ So he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They came by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ The servant of the man of God rose early and went out, and there was a force surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What shall we do?"

¹⁶ He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes so he may see." The LORD opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw—the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸ When the Arameans came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, "Please strike this nation with blindness." And he struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹ Elisha said to them, "This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." He led them to Samaria.

²⁰ When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men so they may see." The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw—they were in the middle of Samaria.

²¹ The king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, "Shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down, my father?"

²² He said, "You must not strike them down. Would you strike down those you captured with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them so they may eat and drink and go to their master."

²³ So he prepared a great feast for them. They ate and drank, and he sent them away, and they went to their master. The raiding bands of Aram did not come into the land of Israel again.

²⁴ After this, Ben-hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵ There was a great famine in Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter-kab of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.

²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help me, my lord the king!"

²⁷ He said, "If the LORD does not help you, how can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

²⁸ Then the king said to her, "What is the matter?" She said, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son so we can eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'

²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give your son so we can eat him,' but she hid her son."

³⁰ When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes. As he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there was sackcloth against his skin underneath.

³¹ He said, "May God do so to me and more if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on him today!"

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?"

³³ While he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. He said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"