Study Desk

so he went with them. When they arrived at the Yarden, they cut down trees;

"Lift it out," he said. So he put out his hand and took it.

So the king of Isra'el sent men to the place the man of God had told him and warned him about, and he took special precautions there. This happened more than once or twice,

He said, "Go and see where he is, so that I can send and bring him here." They told him, "He's in Dotan."

So he sent horses, chariots and a large army there; they came by night and surrounded the city.

Elisha prayed, " Adonai , I ask you to open his eyes, so that he can see." Then Adonai opened the young man's eyes, and he saw: there before him, all around Elisha, the mountain was covered with horses and fiery chariots.

On their arrival in Shomron, Elisha said, " Adonai , open the eyes of these men, so that they can see." Adonai opened their eyes, and they saw: there they were, in the middle of Shomron.

He answered, "Don't attack them! You wouldn't even attack prisoners you had captured with your own sword and bow, would you? So give them food to eat and water to drink, and let them return to their master."

So he provided well for them; and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away; and they returned to their master. After that, no more raiding parties entered the land of Isra'el from Aram.

Then the king asked her, "What's troubling you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, ‘Give me your son, so that we can eat him today; and we'll eat my son tomorrow.'

So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, so that we can eat him,' but she has hidden her son."

If we say, ‘We'll enter the city, then the city has been struck by the famine, so we'll die there. And if we sit still here, we'll also die. So let's go and surrender to the army of Aram; if they spare our lives, we will live; and if they kill us, we'll only die."

So they jumped up and fled in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, donkeys and the whole camp just as it was, and ran for their lives.

But finally they said to each other, "What we are doing is wrong. At a time of good news like this, we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. If we wait even till morning, we will earn only punishment; so come on, let's go and tell the king's household."

So they came and shouted to the gatekeepers of the city and told them the news: "We went to the camp of Aram, and no one was there, no human voice — just the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents left in place."

Then the king got up in the night; he said to his servants, "I'll tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we're hungry, so they've gone outside the camp and hidden in the countryside, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we'll take them alive and then get inside the city.'"

So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of Aram, saying, "Go, and see."

The king put the servant on whose arm he had leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died, as the man of God had said he would, who spoke when the king came to him.

That is exactly what happened to him, because the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died.

Then the man of God fixed his gaze on him for so long that Haza'el became embarrassed; finally Elisha began to cry.