1The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we live and meet with you is too small for us."
2"Please let us go to the Jordan River, and each of us can cut down a timber from there, so we can build a place to live." Elisha replied, "Go!"
3One of them said, "Please come with your servants." He answered, "I will go."
4So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan River, they began cutting down wood.
5But as one of them was cutting down a tree, the axe head fell into the water. He cried out, "Oh no, master! It was borrowed!"
6The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" The man showed him the spot. He cut off a stick, threw it into the water, and made the iron axe head float.
7He said, "Pick it up." So the man reached out his hand and took it.
8At that time, the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He discussed with his officers, saying, "My camp will be in this specific place."
9The man of God sent a message to the king of Israel, saying, "Make sure you don't go through that particular place, because the Syrians are coming down there."
10The king of Israel sent men to the place the man of God had told him about and warned him of, and he saved himself there many times.
11The king of Syria was very upset about this. He called his officers and asked them, "Won't you tell me which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"
12One of his officers said, "No, my lord the king, but Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your private room."
13He said, "Go and find out where he is, so I can send men to capture him." He was told, "He is in Dothan."
14So he sent horses, chariots, and a large army there. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.
15When the servant of the man of God got up early and went outside, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to him, "Oh no, master! What should we do?"
16He answered, "Don't be afraid, because those who are with us are more numerous than those who are with them."
17Elisha prayed, saying, "Yahweh, please open his eyes so he can see." Yahweh opened the young man's eyes, and he looked up and saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18As the Syrian army came down toward Elisha, he prayed to Yahweh, saying, "Please strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, just as Elisha had asked.
19Elisha said to them, "This isn't the right road, and this isn't the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." He then led them to Samaria.
20When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "Yahweh, open these men's eyes so they can see." Yahweh opened their eyes, and they looked around and realized they were in the middle of Samaria.
21When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?"
22He answered, "You must not kill them. Would you kill those you have captured with your sword and bow? Instead, offer them food and water so they can eat and drink, and then let them go back to their master."
23He prepared a great feast for them. After they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the Syrian raiding parties stopped invading the land of Israel.
24After this, Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, gathered his entire army, marched up, and surrounded Samaria.
25There was a severe famine in Samaria. The siege was so intense that a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter of a kab (about half a pint) of dove's droppings sold for five pieces of silver.
26As the king of Israel was walking along the city wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O King!”
27He replied, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”
28The king then asked her, “What is your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so we can eat him today, and we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’
29So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”
30When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes. He was still walking along the wall, and the people looked and saw that he had sackcloth underneath, on his body.
31Then he said, “May God strike me and even more if Elisha, the son of Shaphat, still has his head on his body today.”
32Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the king sent a man to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Can’t you hear the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33While he was still talking with them, the messenger came down to him. Then the king said, “Look, this disaster is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”