CINXE.COM

<!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 NLT</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="../">NLT</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">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/2_kings/6.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">The Floating Ax Head</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.”</p><p class="reg">“All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>“Please come with us,” someone suggested.</p><p class="reg">“I will,” he said. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>So he went with them.</p><p class="reg">When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>“Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.</p><p class="hdg">Elisha Traps the Arameans</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>“Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”</p><p class="reg">And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.</p><p class="reg"> <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 got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please make them blind.” So the LORD struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the LORD opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.</p><p class="hdg">Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> of silver.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>He answered, “If the LORD doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>But then the king asked, “What is the matter?”</p><p class="reg">She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then 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 cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>“May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t separate Elisha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Elisha was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “A murderer has sent a man to cut off my head. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. We will soon hear his master’s steps following him.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/6-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> said, “All this misery is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">6:25 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">sold for 80 [shekels]</span><span class="ft"> [2 pounds or 0.9 kilograms] </span><span class="it">of silver, and</span><span class="ft"> </span><span class="supit">1</span><span class="it">/</span><span class="subit">4</span><span class="it"> of a cab</span><span class="ft"> [0.3 liters] </span><span class="it">of dove’s dung sold for 5 [shekels]</span><span class="ft"> [2 ounces or 57 grams]. </span><span class="it">Dove’s dung</span><span class="ft"> may be a variety of wild vegetable.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">6:33 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">he.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../2_kings/5.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Kings 5"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Kings 5" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_kings/7.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Kings 7"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Kings 7" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/2_kings/6-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>