Study Desk

If we go into the city, we'll die of starvation, and if we stay here we'll die! So come on, let's defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we'll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway."

So they started toward the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there.

So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

Then they said to one another, "It's not right what we're doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven't told anyone. If we wait until dawn, we'll be punished. So come on, let's go and inform the royal palace."

So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, "We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn't even hear a man's voice. But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up."

The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, "I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.'"

One of his advisers replied, "Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we're all going to die!) Let's send them out so we can know for sure what's going on."

So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army. He ordered them, "Go and find out what's going on."

So they tracked them as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. The scouts went back and told the king.

But the officer replied to the prophet, "Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?" Elisha said, "Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!"

So the woman did as the prophet said. She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

So the king told Hazael, "Take a gift and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the Lord . Ask him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?'"

So Hazael went to visit Elisha. He took along a gift, as well as forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, "Your son, King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?'"

So Edom has remained free from Judah's control to this very day. At that same time Libnah also rebelled.

So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead.

When he arrived, the officers of the army were sitting there. So he said, "I have a message for you, O officer." Jehu asked, "For which one of us?" He replied, "For you, O officer."

So Jehu got up and went inside. Then the prophet poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I have designated you as king over the Lord 's people Israel.

But they said, "You're lying! Tell us what he said." So he told them what he had said. He also related how he had said, "This is what the Lord says, ‘I have designated you as king over Israel.'"

So the horseman went to meet him and said, "This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?'" Jehu replied, "None of your business! Follow me." The watchman reported, "The messenger reached them, but hasn't started back."

So he sent a second horseman out to them and he said, "This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?'" Jehu replied, "None of your business! Follow me."