[an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. |
2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.” “All right,” he told them, “go ahead.” |
3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3“Please come with us,” someone suggested. “I will,” he said. |
4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. |
5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!” |
6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6“Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. |
7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7“Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it. Elisha Traps the Arameans |
8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.” |
9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” |
10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there. |
11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?” |
12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12“It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!” |
13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13“Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” |
14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. |
15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. |
16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” |
17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. |
18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please make them blind.” So the LORD struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. |
19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria. |
20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the LORD opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. |
21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?” |
22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22“Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.” |
23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria |
24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. |
25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver. |
26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!” |
27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27He answered, “If the LORD doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” |
28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ |
29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” |
30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin. |
31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31“May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t separate Elisha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed. |
32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32Elisha was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “A murderer has sent a man to cut off my head. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. We will soon hear his master’s steps following him.” |
33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king said, “All this misery is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” |
[an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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