2 Kings 6:1-17 ▼

1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

2 Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha.

3 Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” “I will come,” he replied.

4 So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

6 “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.

7 “Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.

8 Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

9 Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.”

10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

11 For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

12 But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13 So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”

14 the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”

16 “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.