Chapter 6

  The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us.  

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  Let us go, we pray you, to the Jordan, and take there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you.  

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  One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He answered, I will go.  

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  So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.  

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  But as one was felling a beam, the ax-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed.  

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  The man of God said, Where fell it? He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim.  

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  He said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it.  

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  Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.  

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  The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are coming down.  

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

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  The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?  

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  One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.  

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  He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.  

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  Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city.  

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  When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?  

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  He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  

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  Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, Please open his eyes, that he may see. Yahweh 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.  

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  When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.  

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  Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. He led them to Samaria.  

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  It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.  

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  The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? shall I strike them?  

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  He answered, You shall not strike them: would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.  

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

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  It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.  

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  There was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.  

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  As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.  

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  He said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?  

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  The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.  

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  So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son.  

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  It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh.  

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

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  But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him?  

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  While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?  

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