The Axe Head Floats
Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2Ki 2:3Isa 54:2-31Ki 20:351Sa 19:202Ki 4:1Isa 49:19-20Jos 17:14Jos 19:47 Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” 1Co 9:61Th 2:91Ti 6:62Th 3:8Act 18:3Act 20:34-35Jhn 21:3
“Go,” said Elisha.
Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” 2Ki 5:23Jdg 19:6Jdg 4:8Job 6:28
“I will come,” he replied.
So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees. Deu 19:5Deu 29:11 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!” 2Ki 3:102Ki 6:15Ecc 10:10Psa 37:21Rev 18:102Ki 4:7Rev 18:16Rev 18:19
“Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. 2Ki 2:212Ki 4:41Exo 15:25Mrk 8:23-25Jhn 9:6-7Mrk 7:33-34
And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.
“Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it. 2Ki 4:362Ki 4:7Exo 4:4Act 9:41Luk 7:15
Elisha Captures the Blinded Arameans
Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 2Ki 6:24Pro 20:18Pro 21:301Ki 22:31Isa 7:5-7Isa 8:10Job 5:12-131Ki 20:1
Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful passing by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.” Amo 3:71Ki 20:131Ki 20:282Ki 3:17-192Ki 4:272Ki 6:12Rev 1:1
So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again 1Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. 1Ki 20:152Ch 20:202Ki 13:142Ki 2:122Ki 5:14Act 27:24Amo 7:1-6Exo 9:20-21 For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?” 1Sa 22:81Sa 28:21Isa 57:20-21Job 18:7-11Mat 2:3-12Psa 48:4-5
But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” Amo 3:7Dan 2:28-302Ki 6:9-10Dan 2:22-23Ecc 10:202Ki 5:13-152Ki 5:3Dan 2:47
So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” Gen 37:17Jhn 11:47-531Sa 23:22-23Act 23:12-27Jer 36:26Mat 2:4-8Psa 10:8-10Psa 37:12-14
On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,” the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city. 1Sa 23:261Sa 24:22Ki 18:17Jhn 18:3-6Mat 26:47Mat 26:552Ki 1:9-13
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” Mat 8:262Ch 20:12Exo 24:13Psa 53:51Ki 19:212Ki 3:112Ki 5:202Ki 5:27
“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Rom 8:31Isa 41:10-141Jn 4:42Ch 32:7-8Act 18:9-10Exo 14:13Psa 55:18Isa 8:10
Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” Psa 68:17Psa 34:7Zec 6:1-7Act 26:18Heb 1:142Ki 2:11Isa 42:7Mat 26:53
And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. Act 13:11Jhn 12:40Gen 19:11Jhn 9:39Deu 28:28Job 5:14Rom 11:7Zec 12:4
And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria. 2Sa 16:18-19Luk 24:16Luk 9:23Mat 16:24Mrk 8:34
When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” 2Ki 6:17Jdg 20:40-42Luk 16:23Luk 24:31
Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.
And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 2Ki 5:132Ki 8:92Ki 2:121Sa 24:191Sa 24:41Sa 26:82Ki 13:14Luk 22:49
“Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.” Gen 48:22Rom 12:20-212Ch 28:8-15Deu 20:11-16Hos 2:18Hos 1:7Jos 24:12Mat 5:44
So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again. 2Ki 5:22Ki 24:22Ki 6:8-9Luk 10:29-37Luk 6:352Ch 28:15Mat 5:47Pro 25:21-22
The Siege and Famine of Samaria
Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria. 1Ki 20:11Ki 22:312Ki 17:5Deu 28:52Ecc 9:142Ki 18:92Ki 25:1
So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, 2 and a quarter cab of dove’s dung 3sold for five shekels of silver. 4 2Ki 6:28-29Jer 14:13-15Jer 14:18Jer 52:6Jer 32:241Ki 18:22Ki 25:32Ki 7:4
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” 2Sa 14:4Act 21:28Isa 10:3Luk 18:3
He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” Psa 118:8-9Psa 124:1-3Jer 17:5Psa 127:1Psa 146:3Psa 60:11Psa 62:8Isa 2:2 Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” 2Sa 14:5Jdg 18:23Lam 4:10Lev 26:29Luk 23:291Sa 1:8Deu 28:53-57Ezk 5:10
And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.” Deu 28:53Lev 26:291Ki 3:26Deu 28:57Isa 49:15Isa 66:13
When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin. 1Ki 21:272Ki 19:12Ki 5:7Isa 58:5-7 He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!” Rut 1:171Ki 19:21Ki 18:171Ki 2:231Ki 22:81Sa 14:441Sa 25:221Sa 3:17
Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” 1Ki 18:4Ezk 14:1Ezk 20:1Ezk 8:11Ki 18:13-141Ki 21:101Ki 14:61Ki 21:13
While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” Job 2:9Isa 8:211Sa 28:6-81Sa 31:42Co 2:112Co 2:7Exo 16:6-8Gen 4:13