¹And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Just look, the place where we live in your company is too confined for us. ²So please let us go to the Jordan, and let us each take from there a tree, and let us make ourselves a place to live there.” And he said, “Go.” ³And one said, “Would you be willing to go with your servants?” And he said, “I will go with you.” ⁴So he went with them, and they came to the Jordan, and they cut the trees down. ⁵And it came to pass, when one was felling a tree, that the axe-head fell into the water. And he shouted out and said, “Oh no, my lord, and it was borrowed.” ⁶Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. Then he cut off some wood and threw it there, and he caused the axe-head to float. ⁷And he said, “Pick it up.” So he stretched out his hand and took hold of it. ⁸Then when the king of Aramaea was waging war against Israel, he consulted with his servants and said, “My encampment is to be in such and such a place.” ⁹And the man of God sent word to the king of Israel as follows: “Beware of passing by this place, for that is where the Aramaeans are coming down.” ¹⁰Then the king of Israel sent spies to the place which the man of God had told him of, and had warned him about, and where he had been cautious, not just once or twice. ¹¹And the king of Aramaea's heart was disturbed about this matter, and he called his servants and said to them, “Can you not tell me who it is among us who is collaborating with the king of Israel?” ¹²Then one of his servants said, “It's not that, my lord the king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the things which you speak in your bedroom.” ¹³To this he said, “Go and see where he is, and I will send men to capture him.” And it was reported back to him as follows: “Look, he is in Dothan.” ¹⁴Then he sent horses and chariots and a large force there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵And when a servant of the man of God arose early, he went out, and what he saw was that a force was surrounding the city – both cavalry and chariots – and his attendant said to him, “Alas, my lord. How do we act now?” ¹⁶But he said, “Do not fear, for there are more with us than with them.” ¹⁷And Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes so that he may see.” And the Lord opened the lad's eyes so that he might see, and what he saw was the mountain brimming with horses, and chariots of fire around Elisha. ¹⁸And when they had come down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” And he struck them with blindness according to Elisha's word. ¹⁹Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the right way and this is not the right city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you are seeking.” Then he led them to Samaria. ²⁰And it came to pass when they arrived in Samaria that Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these people so that they may see.” And the Lord opened their eyes so that they might see, and what they saw was that they were in Samaria. ²¹Then the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, “Should I attack them? Should I attack them, my father?” ²²And he said, “You shall not attack. Should you attack those whom you have taken captive by your sword and by your bow? Serve them bread and water so that they may eat and drink, and let them go to their master.” ²³So he gave them a grand feast, and they ate and drank, and he sent them off, and they went back to their master. And the Aramaean troops did not come into the land of Israel again. ²⁴And it came to pass after that, that Ben-Hadad king of Aramaea gathered all of his camp and went up, and he besieged Samaria. ²⁵And there was a severe famine in Samaria, and there they were besieging it, until a donkey's head was worth eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter cab of dove's dung was worth five pieces of silver. ²⁶And it came to pass that when the king of Israel went across on the wall, a woman shouted out to him and said, “Save us, my lord the king!” ²⁷And he said, “If the Lord will not save you, from where am I to save you? Is it from the threshing floor or from the wine vat?” ²⁸And the king said to her, “What is the matter?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give us your son to eat today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹So we cooked my son and ate him. Then I said to her on another day, ‘Give us your son for us to eat’, but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰And it came to pass, when the king heard the woman's words, that he tore his clothes, and he crossed over the wall, and the people looked, and they saw sackcloth on his body as an undergarment. ³¹And he said, “May God so do to me and more besides 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, when the king sent a man away, and before the messenger had come to him, he said to the elders, “Have you seen how this son of a murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and pin him to the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet right behind him?” ³³While he was still speaking with them, it so happened that the messenger came down to him and said, “Just see this evil from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”