The Axe Head Made to Float

61 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell before you is too small for us. 2 Let us go, please, to the Jordan, and every man a beam from there, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell.”

He answered, “Go!” 3 One said, “Please be pleased to go with your servants.”

He answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. 5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water. Then he cried, and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.” 6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7 He said, “Take it.” So he put out his hand and took it.

Elisha and the Syrians

8 Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you not pass such a place; for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. 11 The heart of the king of Syria was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, “Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 One of his servants said, “No, 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 He said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”

It was told him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night, and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He answered, “Don’t be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. 18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.”

He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria. 20 It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, “Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.”

Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?” 22 He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.” 23 He prepared great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.

Elisha and the Siege of Samaria

24 It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” 27 He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, from where could I help you? From of the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” 28 The king said to her, “What ails you?”

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 we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him;’ and she has hidden her son.” 30 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, he had sackcloth underneath on his flesh. 31 Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stay on him this day.” 32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then 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 away my head? Behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33 While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “Behold, this evil is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”

71 Elisha said, “Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?”

He said, “Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it.”

3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said one to another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” 5 They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. 6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great army: and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us. 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8 When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it. 9 Then they said one to another, “We aren’t doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11 He called the porters; and they told it to the king’s household within.

12 The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’” 13 One of his servants answered, “Please let some take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let us send and see.” 14 They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king. 16 The people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh. 17 The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 It happened, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria;” 19 and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it.” 20 It happened like that to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and he died.

The Shunammite Woman's Land Restored

81 Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It shall also come on the land seven years.” 2 The woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 It happened at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines. Then she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 It happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.”

Hazael Becomes King of Syria

7 Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. It was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” 8 The king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 10 Elisha said to him, “Go, tell him, ‘You shall surely recover;’ however Yahweh has shown me that he shall surely die.” 11 He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept. 12 Hazael said, “Why do you weep, my lord?”

He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will their young men with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child.” 13 Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”

Elisha answered, “Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria.” 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.” 15 It happened on the next day, that he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. Then Hazael reigned in his place.

The Reign of Jehoram of Judah

16 In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah then, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife. He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 19 However Yahweh would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always. 20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 21 Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. 22 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then did Libnah revolt at the same time. 23 The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

The Reign of Ahaziah of Judah

25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. 26 Twenty-two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. 28 He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.