2 Kings 6-7

New American Standard Bible

The Axe Head Recovered

6 Now ^(A)the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place ^[a]before you where we are living is too cramped for us. ² Please let us go to the Jordan, and let us each take from there a beam, and let us construct a place there for ourselves, to live there.” So he said, “Go.” ³ Then one of them said, “Please agree and go with your servants.” And he said, “I will go.” ⁴ So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. ⁵ But it happened that as one of them was ^[b]cutting down a beam, ^[c]the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Oh, my master! It was borrowed!” ⁶ Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, ^(B)he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. ⁷ Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

The Arameans Plot to Capture Elisha

⁸ Now the king of Aram was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “In such and such a place shall be my camp.” ⁹ But ^(C)the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful that you do not pass this place, because the Arameans are coming down there.” ¹⁰ And the king of Israel sent scouts to the place about which the man of God had told him; so he warned him, so that he was on his guard there, ^[d]more than once or twice.

¹¹ Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this matter; and 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, my lord, the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” ¹³ So he said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send men and take him.” And it was told to him, saying, “Behold, he is in ^(D)Dothan.” ¹⁴ So he sent horses and chariots and a substantial army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “This is hopeless, my master! ^[e]What are we to do?” ¹⁶ And he said, “^(E)Do not be afraid, for ^(F)those who are with us are ^[f]greater than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and said, “^(G)Lord, please, open his eyes so that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of ^(H)horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this ^[g]people with blindness.” So He ^(I)struck them with blindness in accordance with the word of Elisha. ¹⁹ Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city; follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he brought them to Samaria.

²⁰ When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “^(J)Lord, open the eyes of these men, so that they may see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. ²¹ Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “^(K)My father, shall I ^[h]kill them? Shall I ^[i]kill them?” ²² But he ^[j]answered, “You shall not ^[k]kill them. Would you ^[l](L)kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? ^(M)Set bread and water before them, so that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.” ²³ So he provided a large feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And ^(N)the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

The Siege of Samaria—Cannibalism

²⁴ Now it came about after this, that ^(O)Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ So there was a severe ^(P)famine in Samaria; and behold, they kept besieging it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a ^[m]kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!” ²⁷ But he said, “^[n]If the Lord does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” ²⁸ Then the king said to her, “^(Q)What ^[o]is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ^29 (R)So we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, so that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, ^(S)he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth ^[p]underneath on his ^[q]body. ³¹ Then he said, “May ^(T)God do so to me and more so, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat ^[r]remains on him today.”

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and ^(U)the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you ^(V)see how this son of a murderer has sent a man to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and ^[s]hold the door shut against him. Is the sound of his master’s feet not behind him?” ³³ While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “^(W)Behold, this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Elisha Promises Food

7 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says: ‘^(X)About this time tomorrow a ^[t]measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’” ^2 (Y)The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “^(Z)Even if the Lord were to make ^[u]windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” Then he said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[v]any of it.”

Four Men with Leprosy Report Arameans’ Flight

³ Now there were four ^(AA)leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to ^(AB)the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.” ⁵ So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. ⁶ For ^(AC)the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired ^(AD)the kings of the Hittites and ^(AE)the kings of the Egyptians against us, to ^[w]attack us!” ⁷ So they ^(AF)got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives. ⁸ When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and ^(AG)carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will ^[x]overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house. ¹² Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that ^(AH)we are hungry; so they have left the camp ^(AI)to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³ One of his servants responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left ^[y]in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ^[z]measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two ^[aa]measures of barley for a shekel, ^(AJ)in accordance with the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now the king appointed ^(AK)the royal officer on whose hand he leaned ^[ab]to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, ^(AL)who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “^(AM)Two ^[ac]measures of barley for a shekel and a ^[ad]measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if ^(AN)the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[ae]any of it.” ²⁰ And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.