Chapter 6
001
The daughters of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us.
002
Let us go, we pray you, to the Jordan, and take there every woman a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. She answered, Go you.
003
One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. She answered, I will go.
004
So she went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.
005
But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and she cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed.
006
The woman of God asked, "Where did it fall?" She showed her the place. She cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.
007
She said, "Take it." So she put out her hand and took it.
008
Now the queen of Syria was warring against Israel; and she took counsel with her servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
009
The woman of God sent to the queen of Israel, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are coming down.
010
The queen of Israel sent to the place which the woman of God told her and warned her of; and she saved herself there, not once nor twice.
011
The heart of the queen of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and she called her servants, and said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the queen of Israel?
012
One of her servants said, No, my domina, O queen; but Elisha, the prophetess who is in Israel, tells the queen of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
013
She said, Go and see where she is, that I may send and get her. It was told her, saying, Behold, she is in Dothan.
014
Therefore sent she there horses, and chariots, and a great army: and they came by night, and surrounded the city.
015
When the servant of the woman of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an army with horses and chariots was round about the city. Her servant said to her, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
016
She answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
017
Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, Please open her eyes, that she may see. Yahweh opened the eyes of the young woman; and she saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
018
When they came down to her, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. She struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
019
Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the woman whom you seek. She led them to Samaria.
020
It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these women, that they may see. Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
021
The queen of Israel said to Elisha, when she saw them, My mother, shall I strike them? shall I strike them?
022
She 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.
023
She prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, she sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
024
It happened after this, that Benhadad queen of Syria gathered all her army, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
025
There was a great famine in Samaria: and 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.
026
As the queen of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a man to her, saying, Help, my domina, O queen.
027
She said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?
028
The queen said to him, What ails you? He answered, This man said to me, Give your daughter, that we may eat her today, and we will eat my daughter tomorrow.
029
So we boiled my daughter, and ate her: and I said to him on the next day, Give your daughter, that we may eat her; and he has hid his daughter.
030
It happened, when the queen heard the words of the man, that she tore her clothes (now she was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and behold, she had sackcloth within on her flesh.
031
Then she said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the daughter of Shaphat shall stand on her this day.
032
But Elisha was sitting in her house, and the elders were sitting with her; and the queen sent a woman from before her: but before the messenger came to her, she said to the elders, See you how this daughter of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against her: isn't the sound of her master's feet behind her?
033
While she was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to her: and she said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?