The Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, ^(A)“My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. ¹⁷ And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ^(B)Aphek until you have made an end of them.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹ Then ^(C)the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only ^(D)three times.”

²⁵ Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities ^(A)that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. ^(B)Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.