Study Desk

Some men from Jericho went to Elisha and said, "As you know, sir, this is a fine city, but the water is bad and causes miscarriages."

He sinned against the Lord , but he was not as bad as his father or his mother Jezebel; he pulled down the image his father had made for the worship of Baal.

But when King Ahab of Israel died, Mesha rebelled against Israel.

And Elisha continued, "But this is an easy thing for the Lord to do; he will also give you victory over the Moabites.

But when they reached the camp, the Israelites attacked them and drove them back. The Israelites kept up the pursuit, slaughtering the Moabites

When the king of Moab realized that he was losing the battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him and tried to force his way through the enemy lines and escape to the king of Syria, but he failed.

The widow of a member of a group of prophets went to Elisha and said, "Sir, my husband has died! As you know, he was a God-fearing man, but now a man he owed money to has come to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt."

But, as Elisha had said, at about that time the following year she gave birth to a son.

but when she came to Elisha, she bowed down before him and took hold of his feet. Gehazi was about to push her away, but Elisha said, "Leave her alone. Can't you see she's deeply distressed? And the Lord has not told me a thing about it."

Gehazi went on ahead and held Elisha's stick over the child, but there was no sound or any other sign of life. So he went back to meet Elisha and said, "The boy didn't wake up."

The stew was poured out for the men to eat, but as soon as they tasted it they exclaimed to Elisha, "It's poisoned!"—and wouldn't eat it.

but he answered, "Do you think this is enough for a hundred men?" Elisha replied, "Give it to them to eat, because the Lord says that they will eat and still have some left over."

Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, was highly respected and esteemed by the king of Syria, because through Naaman the Lord had given victory to the Syrian forces. He was a great soldier, but he suffered from a dreaded skin disease.

But Naaman left in a rage, saying, "I thought that he would at least come out to me, pray to the Lord his God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and cure me!

He returned to Elisha with all his men and said, "Now I know that there is no god but the God of Israel; so please, sir, accept a gift from me."

Elisha answered, "By the living Lord , whom I serve, I swear that I will not accept a gift." Naaman insisted that he accept it, but he would not.

"No," Gehazi answered. "But my master sent me to tell you that just now two members of the group of prophets in the hill country of Ephraim arrived, and he would like you to give them three thousand pieces of silver and two changes of fine clothes."

But Elisha said, "Wasn't I there in spirit when the man got out of his chariot to meet you? This is no time to accept money and clothes, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, or servants!

But Elisha sent word to the king of Israel, warning him not to go near that place, because the Syrians were waiting in ambush there.

So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her that we would eat her son, but she had hidden him!"