The Floating Axe Head
1The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we live under your direction is too small for us. 2Let us go to the Jordan, and let each of us get a log there, and let us build a place for ourselves to live.” He said, “Go.” 3One of them said, “Please come with your servants.” He answered, “I will come.” 4So he went with them, and when they reached the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. 5As one of them was felling a tree, the axe head fell into the water. He cried out, “Oh, my master! It was borrowed!” 6The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in, and made the iron float. 7He said, “Pick it up.” And the man reached out his hand and took it.
The Blinded Arameans
8Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. He conferred with his officers, saying, “I will set up camp at such and such a place.” 9But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass by that place, for the Arameans are going down there.” 10So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had warned him about. Time and again Elisha warned him, and the king took precautions there — not just once or twice. 11This greatly troubled the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded, “Tell me, which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?” 12One of his officers said, “No one, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.” 13The king said, “Go and find out where he is, so I can send men to seize him.” He was told, “He is in Dothan.” 14So he sent horses, chariots, and a strong force there. They arrived at night and surrounded the city. 15When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. His servant said to him, “Oh no, my master! What shall we do?” 16Elisha said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17Then Elisha prayed, “Yahweh, open his eyes so he may see.” And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, just as Elisha had asked. 19Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. 20As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Yahweh, open the eyes of these men so they may see.” Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. 21When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 22Elisha answered, “You must not kill them. Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set food and water before them, so they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the raiding bands of Aram did not come again into the land of Israel.
Famine in Besieged Samaria
24Some time later, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, mustered his entire army and went up and laid siege to Samaria. 25There was a severe famine in Samaria, and the siege continued until a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a kab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver. 26As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” 27He said, “If Yahweh will not help you, where could I find help for you — from the threshing floor or from the winepress?” 28Then the king asked her, “What is troubling you?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ 29So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” 30When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth underneath, next to his skin. 31He said, “May God strike me down, and worse, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on him today.” 32Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer’s son has sent someone to cut off my head? Watch — when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it firmly shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s footsteps right behind him?” 33While he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him, and the king said, “This disaster is from Yahweh — why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”
