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¹ And sons of the prophet say to Elisha, "Now behold, the place where we are dwelling before you is too narrow for us;² please let us go to the Jordan, and we each take one beam from there, and we make a place there for ourselves to dwell there"; and he says, "Go."³ And the one says, "Please be willing, and go with your servants"; and he says, "I go."⁴ And he goes with them, and they come to the Jordan, and cut down the trees,⁵ and it comes to pass, the one is felling the beam, and the iron [ax head] has fallen into the water, and he cries and says, "Aah! My lord, for it was borrowed!"⁶ And the man of God says, "To where has it fallen?" And he shows him the place, and he cuts a stick, and casts [it] there, and causes the iron to swim,⁷ and says, "Raise [it] up for yourself"; and he puts forth his hand and takes it.

⁸ And the king of Aram has been fighting against Israel, and takes counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place [is] my encamping."⁹ And the man of God sends to the king of Israel, saying, "Take heed of passing by this place, for the Arameans are coming down there";¹⁰ and the king of Israel sends to the place of which the man of God spoke to him, and warned him, and he is preserved there not [just] once and not [just] twice.¹¹ And the heart of the king of Aram is tossed about concerning this thing, and he calls to his servants and says to them, "Do you not declare to me who of us [is] for the king of Israel?"¹² And one of his servants says, "No, my lord, O king, for Elisha the prophet, who [is] in Israel, declares to the king of Israel the words that you speak in the inner part of your bed-chamber."

¹³ And he says, "Go and see where he [is], and I send and take him"; and it is declared to him, saying, "Behold—in Dothan."¹⁴ And he sends horses and chariot, and a heavy force there, and they come in by night, and go around against the city.¹⁵ And the servant of the man of God rises early, and goes out, and behold, a force is surrounding the city, and horse and chariot, and his young man says to him, "Aah! My lord, how do we do?"¹⁶ And he says, "Do not fear, for more [are] they who [are] with us than they who [are] with them."¹⁷ And Elisha prays and says, "YHWH, please open his eyes, and he sees"; and YHWH opens the eyes of the young man, and he sees, and behold, the hill is full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.¹⁸ And they come down to it, and Elisha prays to YHWH and says, "Please strike this nation with blindness"; and He strikes them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.¹⁹ And Elisha says to them, "This [is] not the way, nor [is] this the city; come after me, and I lead you to the man whom you seek"; and he leads them to Samaria.²⁰ And it comes to pass, at their coming to Samaria, that Elisha says, "YHWH, open the eyes of these, and they see"; and YHWH opens their eyes, and they see, and behold, [they are] in the midst of Samaria!²¹ And the king of Israel says to Elisha at his seeing them, "My father, do I strike, do I strike?"²² And he says, "You do not strike; are you striking those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, and they eat, and drink, and go to their lord."²³ And he prepares great provision for them, and they eat and drink, and he sends them away, and they go to their lord: and troops of Aram have not added to come into the land of Israel anymore.

²⁴ And it comes to pass afterward, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathers all his camp, and goes up, and lays siege to Samaria,²⁵ and there is a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they are laying siege to it, until the head of a donkey is at eighty pieces of silver, and a forth of the cab of dove's dung at five pieces of silver.²⁶ And it comes to pass, the king of Israel is passing by on the wall, and a woman has cried to him, saying, "Save, my lord, O king."²⁷ And he says, "YHWH does not save you—from where do I save you? Out of the threshing-floor or out of the wine-vat?"²⁸ And the king says to her, "What is [troubling] you?" And she says, "This woman said to me, Give your son, and we eat him today, and we eat my son tomorrow;²⁹ and we boil my son and eat him, and I say to her on the next day, Give your son, and we eat him; and she hides her son."³⁰ And it comes to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the woman, that he tears his garments, and he is passing by on the wall, and the people see, and behold, the sackcloth [is] within on his flesh.³¹ And he says, "Thus God does to me and thus He adds, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on him this day."³² And Elisha is sitting in his house, and the elderly are sitting with him, and [the king] sends a man from before him; before the messenger comes to him, even he himself said to the elderly, "Have you seen that this son of the murderer has sent [him] to turn aside my head? See, at the coming in of the messenger, shut the door, and you have held him fast at the door, is not the sound of the feet of his lord behind him?"³³ He is yet speaking with them, and behold, the messenger is coming down to him, and he says, "Behold, this [is] the calamity from YHWH; why do I wait for YHWH anymore?"