Dual Panel1THE company of prophets who were with Elisha said to him, “As you see, this place where we live with you is too cramped for us.
2Let us go to the Jordan and each fetch a log, and make ourselves a place to live in.” The prophet said, “Yes, go.”
3One of them said, “Please, sir, come with us.” “I shall come,” he said,
4and he went with them. When they reached the Jordan and began cutting down trees
5it chanced that, as one of them was felling a trunk, the head of his axe flew off into the water. “Oh, master!” he exclaimed. “It was borrowed.”
6“Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. When shown the place, he cut off a piece of wood and threw it into the water and made the iron float.
7Elisha said, “Lift it out.” So he reached down and picked it up.
8ONCE, when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he held a conference with his staff at which he said, “I mean to attack in such and such a direction.”
9The man of God warned the king of Israel: “Take care to avoid this place, for the Aramaeans are going down there.”
10The king of Israel sent word to the place about which the man of God had given him this warning; and the king took special precautions every time he found himself near that place.
11The king of Aram was greatly incensed at this and, summoning his staff, he said to them, “Tell me, which of us is for the king of Israel?”
12“There is no one, my lord king,” said one of his staff; “but Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedchamber.”
13“Go, find out where he is,” said the king, “and I shall send and seize him.” It was reported to him that the prophet was at Dothan,
14and he sent a strong force there with horses and chariots. They came by night and surrounded the town.
15When the attendant of the man of God rose and went out early next morning, he saw a force with horses and chariots surrounding the town. “Oh, master,” he said, “which way are we to turn?”
16Elisha answered, “Do not be afraid, for those on our side are more than those on theirs.”
17He offered this prayer: “LORD, open his eyes and let him see.” The LORD opened the young man's eyes, and he saw the hills covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18As the Aramaeans came down towards him, Elisha prayed to the LORD: “Strike this host, I pray, with blindness”; and they were struck blind as Elisha had asked.
19Elisha said to them, “You are on the wrong road; this is not the town. Follow me and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.
20As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “LORD, open the eyes of these men and let them see again.” He opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.
21When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, am I to destroy them?”
22“No, you must not do that,” he answered. “Would you destroy those whom you have not taken prisoner with your own sword and bow? As for these men, provide them with food and water, and let them eat and drink and go back to their master.”
23So he prepared a great feast for them; they ate and drank and then were sent back to their master. From that time Aramaean raids on Israel ceased.
24BUT later, Ben-hadad king of Aram mustered his whole army and marched to the siege of Samaria.
25The city was near starvation, and they were besieging it so closely that a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a kab of locust-beans for five shekels.
26One day, as the king of Israel was walking along the city wall, a woman called to him, “Help, my lord king!”
27He said, “If the LORD does not bring you help, where can I find help for you? From threshing-floor or from winepress?
28What is your trouble?” She replied, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your child for us to eat today, and we will eat mine tomorrow.’
29So we cooked my son and ate him; but when I said to her the next day, ‘Now give up your child for us to eat,’ she had hidden him.”
30When he heard the woman's story, the king tore his clothes. He was walking along the wall at the time, and, when the people looked, they saw that he had sackcloth underneath, next to his skin.
31He said, “The LORD do the same to me and more, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on his shoulders today.”
32Elisha was sitting at home, the elders with him. The king had dispatched one of those at court, but, before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “See how this son of a murderer has sent to behead me! When the messenger comes, be sure to close the door and hold it fast against him. Can you not hear his master following on his heels?”
33While he was still speaking, the king arrived and said, “Look at our plight! This is the LORD's doing. Why should I wait any longer for him to help us?”