Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
2 Kings 6
The Iron Axe Head Floats
The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we live before you is too cramped for us. Please let us go to the Jordan and take from there each person a beam, and let us make for ourselves a place there where we may live.” He said, “Go.” One said, “Please agree to go with your servants.” He said, “I will go.” So he went with them. They came to the Jordan and cut down trees. And it happened as one was felling a beam that the iron axe head fell into the water. He cried out and said, “Ah, my lord! And it was borrowed!” The man of God said, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. Then he cut a piece of wood, threw it there, and made the iron float. He said, “Lift it for yourself.” So he stretched out his hand and took it.
Elisha Reveals Aram’s Plans
Now the king of Aram was making war against Israel. He consulted with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place will be my camp.” But the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Guard yourself from passing this place, for the Arameans are going down there.” So the king of Israel sent to the place concerning which the man of God had spoken to him and warned him. He guarded himself there, not once or twice. The heart of the king of Aram was stormed 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?” 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 bedroom.” He said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send and take him.” It was told to him, saying, “Look, he is in Dothan.”
Those with Us Are More Than Those with Them
So he sent there horses, chariots, and a strong force. They came by night and surrounded the city. The servant of the man of God rose early and went out, and look, an army with horses and chariots was surrounding the city. His servant said to him, “Ah, my lord! What will we do?” He said, “Do not fear, for people who are with us are more than people who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes so that he may see.” The LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha Leads the Arameans into Samaria
When the Arameans came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this nation with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 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. And it happened when they came into Samaria that Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw, and look, they were among Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Will I strike them? Will I strike them, my father?” He said, “You will not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have captured with your sword and your bow? Set bread and water before them so that they may eat and drink and go to their lord.” So he prepared a great feast for them. They ate and drank, and he sent them away, and they went to their lord. And the raiding bands of Aram did not continue coming into the land of Israel.
Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria
After this Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria, and look, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. As the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, my lord the king!” He said, “If the LORD does not save you, from where will I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” The king said to her, “What is it with you?” She said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, and we will eat him today, and my son we will eat tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, and we will eat him,’ but she hid her son.”
The King Blames Elisha
When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. As he passed by upon the wall, the people looked, and look, sackcloth was beneath upon his body. He said, “Thus may God do to me and more also if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains upon him today.” Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man from before him. Before the messenger came to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? See, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him at the door. Is not the sound of his lord’s feet behind him?” While he was still speaking with them, look, the messenger came down to him. And he said, “Look, this disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”