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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>2 Kings 6 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/6.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/2_kings/6-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > 2 Kings 6</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/5.htm" title="2 Kings 5">◄</a> 2 Kings 6 <a href="../2_kings/7.htm" title="2 Kings 7">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/2_kings/6.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">The Axe Head Recovered</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.</p> <p class="heading">Horses and Chariots of Fire</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Then Elisha prayed and said, “O <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down 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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.</p> <p class="heading">Ben-hadad’s Siege of Samaria</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a kab was about 1 quart or 1 liter">a</a></sup></span> of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>And he said, “If the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>! Why should I wait for the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> any longer?”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">25</span> A <i class="catch-word-plural">shekel</i> was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a <i class="catch-word">kab</i> was about 1 quart or 1 liter<br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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