The Siege Lifted

³ Now there were four men with leprosy^[a](A) at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

⁵ At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, ⁶ for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound^(B) of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired^(C) the Hittite^(D) and Egyptian kings to attack us!” ⁷ So they got up and fled^(E) in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

⁸ The men who had leprosy^(F) reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

⁹ Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

¹⁰ So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” ¹¹ The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

¹² The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide^(G) in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”

¹³ One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”

¹⁴ So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” ¹⁵ They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight.^(H) So the messengers returned and reported to the king. ¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered^(I) the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel,^(J) as the Lord had said.

¹⁷ Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died,^(K) just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. ¹⁸ It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹ The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates^(L) of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” ²⁰ And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

8 Now Elisha had said to the woman^(A) whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine^(B) in the land that will last seven years.”^{(C) 2} The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³ At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land. ⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵ Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored^(D) the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

⁷ Elisha went to Damascus,^(E) and Ben-Hadad^(F) king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” ⁸ he said to Hazael,^(G) “Take a gift^(H) with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult^(I) the Lord through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

⁹ Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

¹⁰ Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’^(J) Nevertheless,^[a] the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” ¹¹ He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed.^(K) Then the man of God began to weep.^(L)

¹² “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.

“Because I know the harm^(M) you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash^(N) their little children^(O) to the ground, and rip open^(P) their pregnant women.”

¹³ Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog,^(Q) accomplish such a feat?”

“The Lord has shown me that you will become king^(R) of Aram,” answered Elisha.

¹⁴ Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵ But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died.^(S) Then Hazael succeeded him as king.

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem.^{(A) 14} They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;^{(B) 16} but they were kept from recognizing him.^(C)

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas,^(D) asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,”^(E) they replied. “He was a prophet,^(F) powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers^(G) handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.^(H) And what is more, it is the third day^(I) since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us.^(J) They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”^(K)

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”^{(L) 27} And beginning with Moses^(M) and all the Prophets,^(N) he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.^(O)

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it^(P) and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him,^(Q) and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us^(R) while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures^(S) to us?”

³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord^(T) has risen and has appeared to Simon.”^{(U) 35} Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.^(V)

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

³⁶ While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^(W)

³⁷ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.^{(X) 38} He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see;^(Y) a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate it in their presence.^(Z)

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you:^(AA) Everything must be fulfilled^(AB) that is written about me in the Law of Moses,^(AC) the Prophets^(AD) and the Psalms.”^(AE)

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer^(AF) and rise from the dead on the third day,^{(AG) 47} and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name^(AH) to all nations,^(AI) beginning at Jerusalem.^{(AJ) 48} You are witnesses^(AK) of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised;^(AL) but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

⁵⁰ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany,^(AM) he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.^{(AN) 52} Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they stayed continually at the temple,^(AO) praising God.