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¹Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look now, the place where we live near you is too small for us.

²Please let us go to the Jordan [River] and let each man take from there a beam [for the building]; and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live." And he answered, "Go."

³Then one said, "Please be willing to go with your servants." So he answered, "I shall go."

⁴So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down [some of] the trees.

⁵But it happened that as one was cutting down a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Oh no, my master! It was borrowed!"

⁶The man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron [axe head] float.

⁷He said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out with his hand and took it.

⁸Now the king of Aram (Syria) was making war against Israel, and he consulted with his servants, saying, "My camp shall be in such and such a place."

⁹The man of God sent word to the king of Israel saying, "Be careful not to pass by this place, because the Arameans are pulling back to there."

¹⁰Then the king of Israel sent word to the place about which Elisha had warned him; so he guarded himself there repeatedly.

¹¹Now the heart of the king of Aram (Syria) was enraged over this thing. He called his servants and said to them, "Will you not tell me which of us is helping the king of Israel?"

¹²One of his servants said, "None [of us is helping him], 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."

¹³So he said, "Go and see where he is, so that I may send [men] and seize him." And he was told, "He is in Dothan."

¹⁴So he sent horses and chariots and a powerful army there. They came by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵The servant of the man of God got up early and went out, and behold, there was an army with horses and chariots encircling the city. Elisha's servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What are we to do?"

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

¹⁷Then Elisha prayed and said, "LORD, please, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servants eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.

¹⁸When the Arameans came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, 'Please strike this people (nation) with blindness." And God struck them with blindness, in accordance with Elisha's request.

¹⁹Then Elisha said to the Arameans, "This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me and I will lead you to the man whom you are seeking." And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men, so that they may see." And the LORD opened their eyes and they saw. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

²¹When the king of Israel (Jehoram) saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?"

²²Elisha answered, "You shall not kill them. Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and bow? Serve them bread and water, so that they may eat and drink, and go back to their master [King Ben-hadad]."

²³So the king prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Aram did not come into the land of Israel again.

²⁴But it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) gathered his whole army together and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵Now there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.

²⁶As the king of Israel (Jehoram) was passing by on the [city] wall a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord, O king!"

²⁷He said, "If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I get you help? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"

²⁸And the king said to her, "What is the matter with you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'

²⁹So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give your son so that we may eat him'; but she had hidden her son."

³⁰When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes—now he was still walking along on the wall—and the people looked [at him], and he had on sackcloth underneath [his royal robe] next to his skin.

³¹Then he said, " May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!"

³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him [to behead Elisha]; but before the messenger arrived, Elisha told the elders, "Do you see how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer has sent [a man] to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it securely against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet [just] behind him?"

³³While Elisha was still talking with them, the messenger came down to him [followed by the king] and the king said, "This evil [situation] is from the LORD! Why should I wait for [help from] the LORD any longer?"

¹Then Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD, 'Tomorrow about this time a measure of finely-milled flour will sell for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'"

²Then the royal officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God and said, "If the LORD should make windows in heaven [for the rain], could this thing take place?" Elisha said, "Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but [because you doubt] you will not eat of it."

³Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the [city's] gate; and they said to one another, "Why should we sit here until we die?

⁴If we say, 'We will enter the city'—then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit still here, we will also die. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians). If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die."

⁵So they got up at twilight to go to the Aramean camp. But when they came to the edge of the camp, there was no one there.

⁶For the LORD had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They had said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come [and fight] against us."

⁷So the Arameans set out and fled during the twilight, and left their tents, horses, and donkeys, even left the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives.

⁸When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried away from there silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they went back and entered another tent and carried [some valuable things] from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹Then they said one to another, "We are not doing the right thing. This is a day of good news, yet we are keeping silent. If we wait until the morning light, some punishment [for not reporting this now] will come on us. So now come, let us go and tell the king's household."

¹⁰So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, "We went to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians), and behold, there was no one there, nor the sound of man there—only the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents [had been left] just as they were."

¹¹Then the gatekeepers called out and it was reported to the king's household inside [the city].

¹²Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, 'When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.'"

¹³One of his servants replied, "Please let some men take five of the horses which remain inside the city. Consider this: [if they are caught then at worst] they will be like all the people of Israel who are left in the city; [even if they are killed then] they will be like all the people of Israel who have already died. So let us send [them] and see [what happens]."

¹⁴So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and see."

¹⁵They went after them to the Jordan, and all the road was entirely littered with clothing and equipment which the Arameans (Syrians) had thrown away when they hurriedly fled. And the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶Then the people [of Israel] went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So [goods were so plentiful that] a measure of finely-milled flour [was sold] for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in accordance with the word of the LORD [as spoken through Elisha].

¹⁷Now the king had appointed the royal officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the [city] gate; and the [starving] people trampled him at the gate [as they struggled to get through for food], and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to him.

¹⁸It happened just as [Elisha] the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley will be sold for a shekel and a measure of finely-milled flour for a shekel tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria."

¹⁹The royal officer had answered the man of God and said, "Now behold, [even] if the LORD should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?" And Elisha had answered, "You will see it with your own eyes, but [because of your doubt] you will not eat it."

²⁰And so it happened to him; for the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.

¹Now Elisha had said to the [Shunammite] woman whose son he had restored to life, "Prepare and go, you and your household, and stay temporarily wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and moreover, it will come on the land [and continue] for seven years."

²So the woman set out and did everything in accordance with the word of the man of God. She and her household went and stayed temporarily as foreigners in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

³At the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to appeal to the king [of Israel] for her house and for her land.

⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, "Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."

⁵And [just] as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life."

⁶When the king asked the woman, she told him [everything]. So the king appointed for her a certain high official, saying, "Restore everything that was hers, including all the produce of the field since the day that she left the land until now."

⁷Now Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) was sick; and he was told, "The man of God has come here."

⁸And the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

⁹So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a gift with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' loads; and he came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

¹⁰And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You will certainly recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die."

¹¹Elisha stared steadily at Hazael until he was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept.

¹²Hazael said, "Why are you weeping, my lord?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons (descendants) of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to pieces, and rip up their pregnant women."

¹³Then Hazael said, "Surely not! For what is your servant, who is nothing more than a dog, that he would do this monstrous thing?" And Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram."

¹⁴Then Hazael departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me you would certainly recover."

¹⁵But the next day Hazael took the bedspread and dipped it in water and covered the king's face, so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

¹⁶Now in the fifth year of Joram (Jehoram) the son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.

¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for [Athaliah] the daughter of Ahab became his wife. He did evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁹Yet for the sake of His servant David the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, since He had promised to give him a lamp (enthroned descendant) through his sons always.

²⁰In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king over themselves.

²¹So Jehoram [king of Judah] went over to Zair [in Edom] with all his chariots. He set out by night and struck down the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of his chariots; but the people [of his army] fled to their tents.

²²So Edom revolted against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

²³The rest of the acts of Jehoram and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁴Jehoram slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with them in the City of David. Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram (Jehoram) the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.

²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

²⁷He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸Ahaziah went with Joram the son of Ahab to battle against Hazael king of Aram (Syria) in Ramoth-gilead; and the Arameans wounded Joram.

²⁹King Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.