2 Kings 6
New Living Translation
The Floating Ax Head
6 One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. 2 Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.”
“All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”
3 “Please come with us,” someone suggested.
“I will,” he said. 4 So he went with them.
When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”
6 “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. 7 “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.
Elisha Traps the Arameans
8 When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”
9 But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” 10 So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.
11 The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”
12 “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”
13 “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”
And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” 14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.
16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
18 As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
19 Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria.
20 As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22 “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”
23 So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria
24 Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. 25 As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces[a] of silver.
26 One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”
27 He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” 28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?”
She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin. 31 “May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t separate Elisha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed.
32 Elisha was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “A murderer has sent a man to cut off my head. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. We will soon hear his master’s steps following him.”
33 While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king[b] said, “All this misery is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
2 Kings 6
1599 Geneva Bible
6 6 Elisha maketh iron to swim above the water. 8 He discloseth the king of Syria’s counsel to the king of Israel, 13 who sending certain to take him, were kept fast in Samaria. 24 Samaria is besieged, and endureth extreme famine.
1 And the children of the Prophets said unto Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the place where we dwell with thee, is too little for us.
2 Let us now go to Jordan, that we may take thence every man a [a]beam, and make us a place to dwell in. And he answered, Go.
3 And one said, Vouchsafe, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
4 So he went with them, and when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.
5 And as one was felling of a tree, the [b]iron fell into the water: then he cried, and said, Alas master, it was but borrowed.
6 And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. Then he cut down a piece of wood, and cast in thither, and he caused the iron to [c]swim.
7 Then he said, Take it up to thee. And he stretched out his hand, and took it.
8 ¶ Then the king of Aram warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, and said, In [d]such and such a place shall be my camp.
9 Therefore the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware thou go not over to such a place: for there the Aramites are come down.
10 So the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him, and warned him of, and [e]saved himself from thence, not once, nor twice.
11 And the heart of the king of Aram was troubled for this thing: therefore he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me, which of us bewrayeth our counsel to the king of Israel?
12 Then one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the Prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel, even the words that thou speakest in thy [f]privy chamber.
13 And he said, Go, and espy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And one told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
14 ¶ So he sent thither horses, and chariots, and a [g]mighty host: and they came by night, and compassed the city.
15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early to go out, behold, an host compassed the city with horses and chariots. Then his servant said unto him, Alas master, how shall we do?
16 And he answered, [h]Fear not: (A)for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them.
17 Then Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I beseech thee, open his eyes, [i]that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he looked, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 So [j]they came down to him, but Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
19 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom ye seek. But he led [k]them to Samaria.
20 And when they were come to Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, open their eyes that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21 And the king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw them, [l]My father, shall I smite them, shall I smite them?
22 And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: doest thou not smite them that thou hast taken with thy sword, and with thy bow? but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
23 And he made great preparation for them: and when they had eaten and drunken, he sent them away: and they went to their master. So the bands of Aram came [m]no more into the land of Israel.
24 But afterward Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his host, and went up and besieged Samaria.
25 So there was a great famine in Samaria: for lo, they besieged it until an asses head was at four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s [n]dung at five pieces of silver.
26 And as the king of Israel was going upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O King.
27 And he said, Seeing the Lord doth not succor thee, how should I help thee with the [o]barn, or with the wine press?
28 Also the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow,
29 (B)So we sod my son, and did eat him: and I said to her the day after, Give thy son, that we may eat him, but she hath hid her son.
30 And when the king had heard the words of the woman, he rent his clothes, (and as he went upon the wall, the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth [p]within [q]upon his flesh)
31 And he said, God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
32 (Now Elisha sat in his house, and the Elders sat with him.) And the King sent a man before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the Elders, See ye not how this [r]murderer’s son hath sent to take away mine head? take heed when the messenger cometh, and shut the door, and handle him roughly at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?
33 While he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him, and said, Behold, this evil cometh of the Lord: [s]should I attend on the Lord any longer?
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 6:2 Or a piece of wood fit to build with.
- 2 Kings 6:5 Or, the axe head.
- 2 Kings 6:6 God wrought this miraculously to confirm the authority of Elisha, to whom he had given such abundance of his Spirit.
- 2 Kings 6:8 Meaning, that he would lie in ambush, and take the Israelites at unawares.
- 2 Kings 6:10 The wicked conspire nothing so craftily, but God can reveal it to his servants, and cause their counsel to be disclosed.
- 2 Kings 6:12 There is nothing so secret that thou canst go about, but he knoweth it, and discovereth it unto his King.
- 2 Kings 6:14 Though it had been nothing in man’s judgment to have taken Elisha, yet the wicked ever doubt, and think they are never able to prepare power enough, though it be but against one or a few.
- 2 Kings 6:16 For he was assured of God’s help, and that millions of Angels camped about the godly to deliver them.
- 2 Kings 6:17 That he may behold how thou hast prepared an army to rescue us.
- 2 Kings 6:18 Meaning, the Syrians his enemies, which came down, thinking themselves sure of him.
- 2 Kings 6:19 Thus he did being led by the Spirit of God, and not because he sought his own revengeance, but only to set forth the glory of God.
- 2 Kings 6:21 The wicked use reverent and grave words toward the servants of God, when they think to have any commodity by them, though in their heart they cannot abide them.
- 2 Kings 6:23 For this gentle entreaty and the miracle wrought by the Prophet, did more prevail for common quietness, than if they had been overcome in battle: for they returned no more at that time to fight against Israel, or in that King’s days.
- 2 Kings 6:25 The Hebrews write, that they burned it in the siege for lack of wood.
- 2 Kings 6:27 Meaning, any kind of vittle, as corn and wine, etc.
- 2 Kings 6:30 Or, under his clothes.
- 2 Kings 6:30 Thus hypocrites when they feel God’s judgments, think to please him with outward ceremonies, whom in prosperity they will not know.
- 2 Kings 6:32 Meaning, Jehoram Ahab’s son, who killed the Prophets, and caused Naboth to be stoned.
- 2 Kings 6:33 So the wicked fall into a rage and desperation, if they find not sudden remedy against their afflictions.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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