2 Kings 6

The group of men training as prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us."

1And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

Note"Sons of the prophets" is a Hebrew idiom: "son of" often marks membership in a group or trade rather than family descent. These were companies of men attached to a leading prophet, living together near him; several such groups appear around Elijah and Elisha in these chapters.

2"Please let us go to the Jordan River. Each of us can cut a log there, and we can build ourselves a place to live." Elisha answered, "Go."

2Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.

3Then one of them said, "Please be willing to come with us, your servants." Elisha answered, "I will come."

3And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

4So he went with them. When they reached the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.

4So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.

5But as one man was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. He cried out, "Oh no, master! That axe was borrowed."

5But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.

NoteIron was expensive and tools were often shared or borrowed rather than owned. Under Israelite custom a borrower who lost or damaged what he had borrowed was liable to replace it, so the loss is a debt the man may not be able to pay.

6The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" The man showed him the spot. Elisha cut a stick, threw it in there, and the iron floated.

6And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

Note"Man of God" is a standard title for a prophet, used repeatedly for Elisha in these chapters. It identifies his office, not a special claim about his nature.

7"Lift it out," Elisha said. The man reached out his hand and took it.

7Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.

8Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. After talking it over with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp at such and such a place."

8Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

Note"Syria" here translates Aram, the kingdom centered on Damascus to the north-east of Israel. The two states fought repeatedly over the border territory between them across several generations.

9Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Be careful not to go past that place, because the Syrians are coming down there."

9And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.

10So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had named and warned him about, and he was on his guard there. This happened more than once or twice.

10And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

11This deeply upset the king of Syria. He called his officers together and said, "Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"

11Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?

12One of his servants said, "No one, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

12And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

13The king said, "Go and find out where he is, so I can send men to seize him." He was told, "Elisha is in Dothan."

13And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

NoteDothan was a town roughly ten miles north of Samaria, set on a hill overlooking one of the main north-south trade routes.

14So he sent horses, chariots, and a large army there. They came at night and surrounded the city.

14Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

NoteChariot forces were the elite and costliest arm of an ancient army, comparable to heavy armor in a modern one. A king is sending a full field force against a single man.

15When the servant of the man of God got up early and went outside, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. He said to Elisha, "Oh no, my master! What are we going to do?"

15And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

16Elisha answered, "Do not be afraid. There are more on our side than on theirs."

16And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17Then Elisha prayed, "LORD, please open his eyes so he can see." The LORD opened the young man's eyes, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

17And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

18As the Syrians came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Please strike these people blind." And God struck them blind, just as Elisha had asked.

18And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

NoteThe Hebrew word here is rare and occurs elsewhere only of the men at Lot's door in Genesis 19. It suggests dazzled or confused sight rather than total darkness, which is why the men can still walk and follow a guide.

19Elisha said to them, "This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for." But he led them to Samaria.

19And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

NoteSamaria was the walled capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, about twelve miles south of Dothan. Following Elisha there took the Syrian force into the middle of the enemy's fortress city.

20When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.

20And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

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

21And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?

Note"My father" is a respectful form of address to a prophet or senior figure, not a statement of family relationship. Elisha used the same words of Elijah.

22Elisha answered, "Do not kill them. Would you kill men you had captured with your own sword and bow? Set food and water in front of them, so they can eat and drink and go back to their master."

22And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

NotePrisoners taken in battle were normally spared (held, ransomed, or enslaved), rather than executed. The force of the rhetorical question is disputed: it may mean "you do not kill even the men you capture yourself," or "you would not kill those, so certainly not these, whom you did not capture at all."

23So the king prepared a great meal for them. After they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went back to their master. And Syrian raiding parties stopped coming into the land of Israel.

23And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

NoteRaiding parties were small bands crossing the border for plunder and captives, a chronic low-level harassment distinct from full-scale war, which resumes in the next verse.

24Some time later, Benhadad king of Syria gathered his whole army, marched up, and surrounded Samaria to cut it off.

24And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

NoteBenhadad was a name, or possibly a throne title, borne by more than one king of Damascus. To besiege a city was to camp around its walls and cut off all supply, forcing it to starve or surrender rather than storming the defenses.

25There was a terrible famine in Samaria. The siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter of a cab of dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver.

25And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

NoteSilver was weighed out, not coined; coinage did not yet exist. Eighty shekels is roughly two pounds of silver (for a donkey's head, an animal Israel's food laws counted unclean and which has almost no meat on the skull. For scale, a slave was valued at thirty shekels. A cab is a dry measure of about a quart or a liter, so a quarter cab is around half a pint. "Dove's dung" may be literal) dried dung was burned as fuel, and in extremity eaten, or a popular name for some cheap plant food such as a pod or seed; the term is disputed.

26As the king of Israel was walking along the top of the city wall, a woman called out to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"

26And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

NoteCity walls were thick enough to walk along the top, and the king is inspecting his defenses. Calling out to the king in person was also how an ordinary person brought a case before the highest court in the land.

27He answered, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?"

27And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

NoteThe threshing floor is where grain was separated from the husk, the winepress where grapes were crushed. Together they stand for the entire food and drink supply of the country; the king means both are empty.

28Then the king asked her, "What is wrong?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we can eat him today, and tomorrow we will eat my son.'

28And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.

NoteThe woman is not asking for food but bringing a lawsuit: she wants the king to enforce an agreement. The agreement was to eat their children. Famine so severe that parents ate their own children is named in Israel's law as the furthest extremity of a siege.

29So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we can eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

29So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

30When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes. As he walked on along the wall, the people saw that under his clothes, next to his skin, he was wearing sackcloth.

30And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.

NoteTearing one's clothes was the recognized public sign of grief or horror. Sackcloth is coarse goat-hair cloth worn in mourning or self-abasement; because the king wore it hidden under his robes, the crowd learns only now that he had already been in mourning.

31Then he said, "May God punish me terribly if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat is still on his shoulders at the end of this day."

31Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.

Note"May God do so to me and more also" is a fixed oath formula. The speaker calls down an unnamed punishment on himself if he fails to do what he is swearing to do.

32Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Isn't that the sound of his master's feet right behind him?"

32But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?

NoteThe king is Joram, son of Ahab and Jezebel, who had Naboth killed to take his vineyard and had prophets of the LORD put to death, hence "son of a murderer." The elders are the leading men of the town, who functioned as its local council.

33While Elisha was still talking with them, the messenger came down to him. And he said, "This trouble comes from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"

33And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?

NoteThe Hebrew simply reads "he said," and it is unclear whether the speaker is the messenger or the king who has followed close behind him; translations differ. The word rendered "trouble" means disaster or calamity, not moral wickedness.