The Axe Head Floats
1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we live and meet with you is too small for us. 2 Please let us go to the Jordan, and each man take a beam from there, and let’s make us a place there, where we may live.”
He answered, “Go!”
3 And one of them said, “Please come with your servants.”
He answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting down a tree, the ax head fell into the water. Then he cried and said, “Oh no, my master! It was borrowed.”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 He said, “Take it.” So he put out his hand and took it.
Elisha Captures Blinded Syrians
8 Now the king of Syria was at war against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and he saved himself there, not just once or twice. 11 The king of Syria’s heart was very troubled about this. He called his servants and said to them, “Won’t you show me which of us is loyal to the king of Israel?”
12 One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
13 He said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”
He was told, “He is in Dothan.”
14 Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, suddenly an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. His servant said to him, “Oh, my master! What shall we do?”
16 He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw, and the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. 18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.”
He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria. 20 When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes that they may see.”
The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and they were in the middle of Samaria. 21 The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?”
22 He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.”
23 He prepared a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.
The Siege and Famine of Samaria
24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria. They besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for 80 pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
27 He said, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?” 28 The king said to her, “What is your problem?”
She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him,’ and she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “The Lord do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33 While he was still talking with them, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”