1Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we live before you is too cramped for us.
2Let us go now to the Jordan and take from there each a beam, and let us make there a place for us to live.” And he said, “Go.”
3Then one of them said, “Please be willing to go with your servants.” And he said, “I will go.”
4So he went with them. And they came to the Jordan and cut down the trees.
5And as one was felling a beam, the iron fell into the water, and he cried out and said, “Alas, my lord! It was borrowed!”
6And the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. Then he cut off a stick and threw it there, and he made the iron float.
7And he said, “Lift it out for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
8Now the king of Aram was making war against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”
9And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware of passing by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.”
10So the king of Israel sent to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was on guard there—not once and not twice.
11And the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this matter, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who among us is for the king of Israel?”
12And one of his servants said, “No, my lord the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.”
13And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” And it was told to him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”
14So he sent there horses and chariotry and a heavy force, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
15And the attendant of the man of God rose early to get up, and he went out, and behold, a force surrounding the city with horses and chariotry. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my lord! What shall we do?”
16And he said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17Then Elisha prayed and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes that he may see.” And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, “Strike this nation, please, with blindness.” And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
19And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.
20And it happened, when they came to Samaria, that Elisha said, “Yahweh, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” And Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21And when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Shall I strike them down, shall I strike them down, my father?”
22And he said, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”
23So he prepared a great feast for them, and they ate and drank; then he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the raiding bands of Aram did not come again into the land of Israel.
24And it happened after this that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and laid siege to Samaria.
25And there was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they were besieging it, until a donkey’s head was worth eighty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of dove’s dung was worth five shekels of silver.
26And it happened, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, that a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!”
27And he said, “If Yahweh does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”
28And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him,’ but she hid her son.”
30And it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, sackcloth was on his flesh underneath.
31And he said, “So may God do to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him this day.”
32Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast against the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him, and he said, “Behold, this disaster is from Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”
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