³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore^(A) his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth^(B) on his body. ³¹ He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders^(C) were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer^(D) is sending someone to cut off my head?^(E) Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”