Beginning

6 ¶ The sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too tight for us.

² Let us go, we pray thee, unto the Jordan, and each one take a beam from there, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go.

³ And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy slaves. And he answered, I will go.

⁴ So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down the wood.

⁵ But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried and said, Alas, master! It was borrowed.

⁶ And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. Then he cut down a stick and cast it in there and caused the iron to swim.

⁷ And he said unto him, Take it. And he put out his hand and took it.

⁸ ¶ Then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his slaves, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

⁹ And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware to not pass through such and such a place, for the Syrians are going there.

¹⁰ Then the king of Israel sent to the place, which the man of God told him and warned him of and kept himself from there, not once nor twice.

¹¹ Therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled over this thing, and he called his slaves and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?

¹² Then one of his slaves said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

¹³ ¶ And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and take him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

¹⁴ So he sent horsemen and chariots there and a great host, who came by night and compassed the city about.

¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God was risen early to go forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horsemen and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?

¹⁶ And he answered, Fear not; for those that are with us are more than those that are with them.

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horsemen and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

¹⁸ And when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD and said, Smite these 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 bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ And when they came into Samaria, Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, 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, My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them?

²² And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them; would thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their master.

²³ And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

²⁴ ¶ And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered all his host and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until an ass’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Save me, my lord, O king.

²⁷ And he said, If the LORD does not save thee, from where shall I save thee? Out of the threshingfloor, or out of the winepress?

²⁸ And the king said unto her, What ails 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 So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. But she has hid her son.

³⁰ And when the king heard the words of the woman, he rent his clothes; and he passed by like this upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.

³¹ Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall remain upon him today.

³² And Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man unto him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?

³³ And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him; and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; for what should I wait for the LORD any longer?

7 ¶ Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus hath the LORD said, Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

² Then a captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

³ ¶ And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, who said one to another, Why shall we stay here until we die?

⁴ If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we stay here, we shall die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians; if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

⁵ And they rose up at the beginning of the night, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

⁶ For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

⁷ Therefore they had arisen and fled at the beginning of the night and had left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and had fled for their lives.

⁸ And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and took silver and gold and raiment and went and hid it and came again and entered into another tent and took from there also and went and hid it.

⁹ Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day to give good tidings, and we are silent; if we tarry until the morning light, we shall be taken in the iniquity. Now, therefore, come, that we may enter in and give the news in the king’s house.

¹⁰ So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We went to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied, and the tents as they were.

¹¹ And the porters cried out and told it inside and in the king’s house.

¹² ¶ And the king arose in the night and said unto his slaves, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore, they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city.

¹³ Then one of his slaves answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (for they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; they are also as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed) and let us send and see.

¹⁴ They took, therefore, two chariot horses; and the king sent after the camp of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

¹⁵ And they went after them unto the Jordan; and, behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and spoiled the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

¹⁷ And the king appointed the prince on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate; and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

¹⁸ And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.

¹⁹ Unto which that prince had answered the man of God, and said, Even if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

²⁰ And so it happened unto him, for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

8 ¶ Then Elisha spoke unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household and sojourn wherever thou canst sojourn; for the LORD has called for a famine which shall come upon the land seven years.

² Then the woman arose and did as the man of God told her; and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³ And it came to pass at the end of the seven years that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her lands.

⁴ And the king had talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha has done.

⁵ And as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. So Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

⁶ And when the king asked the woman, she told him. Then the king appointed unto her a eunuch, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the fruits of the lands since the day that she left the lands, even until now.

⁷ ¶ Elisha went to Damascus; and Benhadad, the king of Syria, was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come here.

⁸ And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the man of God and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad, king of Syria, has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

¹⁰ And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou may certainly recover. But the LORD has showed me that he shall surely die.

¹¹ And he settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.

¹² Then Hazael said unto him, Why does my lord weep? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the sons of Israel; their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child.

¹³ And Hazael said, But what, is thy slave a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD has showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.

¹⁴ So he departed from Elisha and came to his master; who said to him, What did Elisha say to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou may surely recover.

¹⁵ And it came to pass on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it on his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his stead.

¹⁶ ¶ And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, began to reign.

¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁹ Yet with all this, the LORD would not destroy Judah for David, his slave’s sake, as he had promised him to give him always a light of his sons.

²⁰ In his days, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves.

²¹ So Joram went over to Zair and all his chariots with him, and he rose up by night and smote the Edomites, who had compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled into their tents.

²² Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

²³ And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁴ And Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.

²⁵ ¶ In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, began to reign.

²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.

²⁷ And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸ And he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to the war against Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

²⁹ And King Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael, king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.