World English Bible

Chapter 6

¹The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us. ²Let us go, we pray you, to the Jordan, and take there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you. ³One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He answered, I will go. ⁴So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. ⁵But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. ⁶The man of God said, Where fell it? He shown him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim. ⁷He said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it. ⁸Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. ⁹The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are coming down. ¹⁰The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. ¹¹The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel? ¹²One 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 bedchamber. ¹³He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. ¹⁴Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great army: and they came by night, and surrounded the city. ¹⁵When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an army with horses and chariots was round about the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? ¹⁶He answered, Don’t be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. ¹⁷Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, Please open his eyes, that he may see. Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. ¹⁸When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. ¹⁹Elisha 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. ²⁰It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. ²¹The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? shall I strike them? ²²He 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. ²³He prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. ²⁴It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up, and besieged Samaria. ²⁵There was a great famine in Samaria: and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. ²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. ²⁷He said, If Yahweh doesn’t help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress? ²⁸The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. ²⁹So 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 hid her son. ³⁰It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh. ³¹Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. ³²But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him? ³³While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?