6The groups of prophets said to Elisha, “The place where we meet with you is too small for us. ²Let’s go to the Jordan River. There everyone can get a log, and let’s build a place there to live.”

Elisha said, “Go.”

³One of them said, “Please go with us.”

Elisha answered, “I will go,” ⁴so he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they cut down some trees. ⁵As one man was cutting down a tree, the head of his ax fell into the water. He yelled, “Oh, my master! I borrowed that ax!”

⁶Elisha asked, “Where did it fall?” The man showed him the place. Then Elisha cut down a stick and threw it into the water, and it made the iron head float. ⁷Elisha said, “Pick up the axhead.” Then the man reached out and took it.

Elisha and the Blinded Arameans

⁸The king of Aram was at war with Israel. He had a council meeting with his officers and said, “I will set up my camp in this place.”

⁹Elisha, the man of God, sent a message to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful! Don’t pass that place, because the Arameans are going down there!”

¹⁰The king of Israel checked the place about which Elisha had warned him. Elisha warned him several times, so the king protected himself there.

¹¹The king of Aram was angry about this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Tell me who of us is working for the king of Israel.”

¹²One of the officers said, “None, my master and king. It’s Elisha, the prophet from Israel. He can tell you what you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³The king said, “Go and find him so I can send men and catch him.”

The servants came back and reported, “He is in Dothan.”

¹⁴Then the king sent horses, chariots, and many troops to Dothan. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵Elisha’s servant got up early, and when he went out, he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. The servant said to Elisha, “Oh, my master, what can we do?”

¹⁶Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid. The army that fights for us is larger than the one against us.”

¹⁷Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, open my servant’s eyes, and let him see.”

The Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸As the enemy came down toward Elisha, he prayed to the Lord, “Make these people blind.” So he made the Aramean army blind, as Elisha had asked.

¹⁹Elisha said to them, “This is not the right road or the right city. Follow me and I’ll take you to the man you are looking for.” Then Elisha led them to Samaria.

²⁰After they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes so they can see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and the Aramean army saw that they were inside the city of Samaria!

²¹When the king of Israel saw the Aramean army, he said to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”

²²Elisha answered, “Don’t kill them. You wouldn’t kill people whom you captured with your sword and bow. Give them food and water, and let them eat and drink and then go home to their master.” ²³So he prepared a great feast for the Aramean army. After they ate and drank, the king sent them away, and they went home to their master. The soldiers of Aram did not come anymore into the land of Israel.

A Shortage of Food

²⁴Later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army and surrounded and attacked Samaria. ²⁵There was a shortage of food in Samaria. It was so bad that a donkey’s head sold for about two pounds of silver, and half of a pint of dove’s dung sold for about two ounces of silver.

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman yelled out to him, “Help me, my master and king!”

²⁷The king said, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, how can I? Can I get help from the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸Then the king said to her, “What is your trouble?”

She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹So we boiled my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him.’ But she had hidden him.”

³⁰When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes in grief. As he walked along the wall, the people looked and saw he had on rough cloth under his clothes to show his sadness. ³¹He said, “May God punish me terribly if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat isn’t cut off from his body today!”

³²The king sent a messenger to Elisha, who was sitting in his house with the elders. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to them, “See, this murderer is sending men to cut off my head. When the messenger arrives, shut the door and hold it; don’t let him in. The sound of his master’s feet is behind him.”

³³Elisha was still talking with the leaders when the messenger arrived. The king said, “This trouble has come from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

7Elisha said, “Listen to the Lord’s word. This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow seven quarts of fine flour will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver. This will happen at the gate of Samaria.’ ”

²Then the officer who was close to the king answered Elisha, “Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn’t happen.”

Elisha said, “You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

³There were four men with a skin disease at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why do we sit here until we die? ⁴There is no food in the city. So if we go into the city, we will die there. If we stay here, we will die. So let’s go to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we die.”

⁵So they got up at twilight and went to the Aramean camp, but when they arrived, no one was there. ⁶The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. They had said to each other, “The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” ⁷So they got up and ran away in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp standing and ran for their lives.

⁸When the men with the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into one of the tents and ate and drank. They carried silver, gold, and clothes out of the camp and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent. They carried things from this tent and hid them, also. ⁹Then they said to each other, “We’re doing wrong. Today we have good news, but we are silent. If we wait until the sun comes up, we’ll be discovered. Let’s go right now and tell the people in the king’s palace.”

¹⁰So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They said, “We went to the Aramean camp, but no one is there; we didn’t hear anyone. The horses and donkeys were still tied up, and the tents were still standing.” ¹¹Then the gatekeepers shouted out and told the people in the palace.

¹²The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I’ll tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we are starving. They have gone out of the camp to hide in the field. They’re saying, ‘When the Israelites come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive. Then we’ll enter the city.’ ”

¹³One of his officers answered, “Let some men take five of the horses that are still left in the city. These men are like all the Israelites who are left; they are also about to die. Let’s send them to see what has happened.”

¹⁴So the men took two chariots with horses. The king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see what has happened.” ¹⁵The men followed the Aramean army as far as the Jordan River. The road was full of clothes and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away as they had hurriedly left. So the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶Then the people went out and took valuables from the Aramean camp. So seven quarts of fine flour were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, just as the Lord had said.

¹⁷The king chose the officer who was close to him to guard the gate, but the people trampled the officer to death. This happened just as Elisha had told the king when the king came to his house. ¹⁸He had said, “Thirteen quarts of barley and seven quarts of fine flour will each sell for two-fifths of an ounce of silver about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹But the officer had answered, “Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn’t happen.” And Elisha had told him, “You will see it with your eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.” ²⁰It happened to the officer just that way. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

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