2 Kings 6-7

New King James Version

The Floating Ax Head

6 And ^(A)the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. ² Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.”

So he answered, “Go.”

³ Then one said, ^(B)“Please consent to go with your servants.”

And he answered, “I will go.” ⁴ So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. ⁵ But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was ^(C)borrowed.”

⁶ So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So ^(D)he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. ⁷ Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

The Blinded Syrians Captured

⁸ Now the ^(E)king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” ⁹ And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.

¹¹ Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”

¹² And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³ So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”

And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in ^(F)Dothan.”

¹⁴ Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

¹⁶ So he answered, ^(G)“Do not fear, for ^(H)those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord ^(I)opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of ^(J)horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And ^(K)He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹ Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!

²¹ Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My ^(L)father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

²² But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? ^(M)Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” ²³ Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So ^(N)the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.

Syria Besieges Samaria in Famine

²⁴ And it happened after this that ^(O)Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ And there was a great ^(P)famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a ^[a]kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.

²⁶ Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”

²⁷ And he said, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸ Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?”

And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So ^(Q)we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

³⁰ Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he ^(R)tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. ³¹ Then he said, ^(S)“God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!”

³² But Elisha was sitting in his house, and ^(T)the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, ^(U)“Do you see how this son of ^(V)a murderer has sent someone 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 was still talking with them, there was the messenger, coming down to him; and then the king said, “Surely this calamity is from the Lord; ^(W)why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

The Syrians Flee

7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ^(X)‘Tomorrow about this time a ^[b]seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ”

^2 (Y)So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, ^(Z)if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?”

And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

The Syrians Flee

³ Now there were four leprous men ^(AA)at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the ^(AB)army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” ⁵ And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. ⁶ For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians ^(AC)to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us ^(AD)the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” ⁷ Therefore they ^(AE)arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. ⁸ And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some ^[c]punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.

¹² So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are ^(AF)hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to ^[d]hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”

¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, ^(AG)according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁷ Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just ^(AH)as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, ^(AI)“Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹ Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, “Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?”

And he had said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.