The Axe Head Floats 1 UST One day representatives of the group of prophets{ in Jericho} came to Elisha, and one of them said on their behalf,“Listen,{ our community has grown, so} this hall where we meet with you is now too small to hold all of us. BSB BSB: Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us.
2 UST Allow us to go to the forest in the Jordan River valley and cut down some trees. Then each of us will carry some of the wood to a site where we can build a new meeting hall.” And Elisha told them,“Very well, you may go and do that.” BSB BSB: Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha.
3 UST The one who was speaking on behalf of all of the prophets told Elisha,“Please agree to come with us.” Elisha replied,“Very well, I will come with you.” BSB BSB: Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” “I will come,” he replied.
4 UST So they went together to the Jordan River valley. The prophets began cutting down trees. BSB BSB: So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.
5 UST But while one of them was cutting down a tree, the axe head{ that he had secured to a wooden handle came loose and} fell into the water. He cried out to Elisha,“This is terrible! I had to borrow that axe head{, and it will be very difficult for me to afford to replace it}.” BSB BSB: As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”
6 UST Elisha replied,“Where did the axe head fall into the water?” The man showed him the place, and then Elisha cut off a stick and threw it into the water at that place. The axe head rose to the surface of the water. BSB BSB: “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.
7 UST Elisha said,“There is your axe head. You can pull it out of the water.” And the man reached out and pulled the axe head out of the water. BSB BSB: “Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.
Elisha Captures the Blinded Arameans 8 UST At this time the king of Aram was planning to attack Israel. After discussing various possibilities with his officers, he told them to have his soldiers set up their tents in a certain place. BSB BSB: Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”
9 UST But Elisha sent messengers to tell the king of Israel,“The Aramean soldiers are going to set up their tents there, so stay away from that place.” BSB BSB: Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.”
10 UST The king of Israel sent soldiers to the place that Elisha had warned him about.{ The soldiers discovered that the Arameans were there,} so the king stayed away from there. This happened repeatedly. BSB BSB: So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 UST The king of Aram became very angry about this. He summoned his army officers and told them,“I demand to know which one of you is revealing our plans to the king of Israel!” BSB BSB: For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 UST One of his officers answered,“Your Majesty, it is not any of us. Instead, there is a prophet whose name is Elisha who lives in Israel. He tells the king of Israel even our most secret plans{ because Yahweh reveals them to him}.” BSB BSB: But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 UST The king of Aram replied,“Go and find out where he is. When you do, I will send some men there to capture him.” Someone told him,“We know that he is in the city of Dothan.” BSB BSB: So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”
14 UST So the king sent a large group of soldiers to Dothan with their horses and chariots. They came at night{ so that no one would know they had come} and surrounded the city{ so that no one could escape}. BSB BSB: the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city.
15 UST Early the next morning, Elisha’ s servant got up and went outside the house. He saw that Aramean soldiers with their horses and chariots were surrounding the city. The servant{ went back inside the house and} exclaimed to Elisha,“Oh, no! Sir, they have trapped us!” BSB BSB: When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
16 UST Elisha replied,“Do not be afraid! There are many more soldiers defending us than there are attacking us.” BSB BSB: “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 UST Then Elisha prayed,“Yahweh, please enable my servant to see{ the spiritual army that is defending us}!” So Yahweh enabled the servant to see spiritual realities. When he looked out, he saw that a great number of fiery horses and chariots were protecting Elisha by surrounding the hill on which people had built the city of Dothan. BSB BSB: Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 UST The Aramean soldiers started to advance toward him. So Elisha prayed,“Yahweh, please make all these soldiers blind!” Yahweh answered his prayer and made them blind. BSB BSB: As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
19 UST Then Elisha told them,“You have taken the wrong road, and so you have come to the wrong city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are searching for.” But he led them to the city of Samaria. BSB BSB: And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.
20 UST Once they got inside the city, Elisha prayed,“Yahweh, please enable these soldiers to see again!” And Yahweh enabled them to see again. When they looked around, they realized that they were inside Samaria. BSB BSB: When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.
21 UST When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha,“Sir, should I order my soldiers to kill them all?” BSB BSB: And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
22 UST Elisha replied,“No, do not kill them. If your army captured enemy soldiers in a battle, you would not kill them. Give these men something to eat and drink, and then allow them to return to their king.” BSB BSB: “Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”
23 UST So the king of Israel told his servants to serve a big feast to them. Once they had eaten and drunk all they wanted, he sent them back home. They returned to the king of Aram{ and told him what had happened}. So after that, groups of Aramean soldiers stopped going on raids into the land of Israel. BSB BSB: So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again.
The Siege and Famine of Samaria 24 UST However, some time later, Ben Hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and led it to the city of Samaria. His soldiers surrounded the city{ and did not let anyone go into or out of it}. BSB BSB: Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.
25 UST As a result, soon there was almost no food in the city. People were paying nearly a kilogram of silver for a donkey’ s head. They were even paying 55 grams of silver for about a cup of dove’ s dung. BSB BSB: So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.
26 UST One day the king of Israel was walking on top of the city wall. A woman cried up to him,“Your Majesty, please help me!” BSB BSB: As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
27 UST He replied,“Yahweh will have to help you. I certainly can not help you. We have no grain or wine left in the city!” BSB BSB: He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”
28 UST But then he asked,“What is your problem?” She replied,“Several days ago, that woman over there told me that{ because we had no other food,} I should give up my baby boy so that we could kill and eat him. She promised that if I agreed to that, we could kill and eat her baby boy the next day. BSB BSB: Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’
29 UST So we{ killed my son and} boiled his flesh and ate it. The next day, I told her to give up her son so that we could kill and eat him. But she hid her son{ so that we would not do that}.” BSB BSB: So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.”
30 UST When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his robe{ to show that he was very upset}. The people who were standing close to the wall were able to look up and see that the king was wearing rough cloth underneath his robe{ to show Yahweh how sorry he was for his sins and those of the people}. BSB BSB: When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.
31 UST The king exclaimed,“I am going to order my soldiers to execute Elisha today by cutting off his head! If I do not do that, may God kill me instead and do other terrible things to me!” BSB BSB: He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!”
32 UST So the king sent a soldier to execute Elisha. Elisha was sitting in his house with some of the elders of Samaria. Before the soldier arrived, Elisha spoke to the elders. He told them,“Yahweh has shown me that{ the king of Israel,} that violent person, has sent a soldier here to kill me. Listen, when the soldier arrives, do not open the door. Instead, hold the door shut to keep him out. The king will be arriving shortly after that soldier.” BSB BSB: Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
33 UST While he was still speaking, the soldier arrived{, and the king arrived right after him}. The king told Elisha,“Listen, Yahweh has caused us to have this trouble. So I am not going to wait any longer for him to help us.” BSB BSB: While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
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