2 Kings 6

Elisha’s Miracles & Samaria Under Siege

1 Now, the sons of the prophets told Elisha, “Look, this spot where we chill with you is too small for us.”

2 “Let us roll up to the Jordan, and each of us get a timber beam there, and we will build a place for us to chill there.” He said, “Go for it.”

3 Then one of them said, “Please, come with your servants.” He said, “I am with you.”

4 So he went with them. When they got to the Jordan, they started chopping down trees.

5 But as one of them was chopping down a tree, the axe head slipped off and fell into the water. He yelled out, “Man, my master! And it was borrowed!”

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the spot. Then Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there, and the axe head floated.

7 He said, “Reach out and grab it.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

Elisha Exposes Aram’s Plans

8 Now, the king of Aram was beefing with Israel. He chopped it up with his officials, saying, “I am going to set up my ambush in such and such a place.”

9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Watch out! Do not pass through that spot, because the Arameans are hitting that area.”

10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God told him about and warned him of, and he was on guard there, not just once or twice.

11 The king of Aram was vexed about this. He called his officials and asked them, “You all are not going to tell me who among us is snitching to the king of Israel?”

12 One of his officials said, “Nah, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13 He said, “Go find out where he is so I can send and grab him.” They told him, “Look, he is in Dothan.”

14 So he sent horses and chariots and a huge army there. They rolled up by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, look, an army with horses and chariots surrounded the city. His servant told him, “Man, my master! What are we are going to do?”

16 He said, “Do not be scared, because those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, please open his eyes so he can see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he looked. And look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 When the Arameans came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, just like Elisha said.

19 Elisha told them, “This is not the right road, and this is not the right city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 When they got to Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they looked. And look, they were right in the middle of Samaria!

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, should I strike them down, Should I strike them down?”

22 He said, “Nah, you are not striking them down. You strike down those you capture with your sword and bow. Set food and water before them so they can eat and drink, then let them bounce back to their boss.”

23 So he laid out a huge feast for them. After they ate and drank, he sent them away, and they bounced back to their boss. And the raiding parties from Aram stopped coming into the land of Israel.

Samaria Under Siege & Famine

24 After this, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army and rolled up and laid siege to Samaria.

25 And there was a severe famine in Samaria. Look, they laid siege to it until a donkey’s head was worth about two pounds of silver, and a fourth of a pint of dove’s droppings was worth about two ounces of silver.

26 As the king of Israel was walking on the wall, a woman yelled out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

27 He said, “If the Lord does not help you, where am I am going to get help for you from, From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”

28 Then the king asked her, “What is your issue?” She said, “This woman here told me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’”

29 “So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day, I told her, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him,’ but she hid her son!”

30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he ripped his clothes, and he was walking on the wall, and the people looked, and look, he had sackcloth under his clothes, next to his skin.

31 He said, “May God hit me super hard, and even worse, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today!”

32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king had sent a dude ahead of him. But before the messenger got to him, Elisha told the elders, “You see how this son of a murderer sent to take off my head, Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him back at the door. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

33 While he was still chopping it up with them, look, the messenger came down to him and said, “This disaster is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”