2 Kings 6:3-13

3 And one of them said, Therefore and thou come with thy servants. (And) He answered, I shall come.
4 And he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they hewed trees (they cut down some wood).
5 And it befelled, that when a man of them had cut down [a] matter, or (a piece of) wood, the iron of the ax felled into the water; and he cried [out], and said, Alas! alas! alas! my lord, and I had taken this same thing by borrowing (for I have borrowed this thing from someone!).
6 Soothly the man of God said, Where felled it? And he showed to him the place. Therefore he cutted down a tree, and sent it thither where the iron was; and the iron floated (And so he cut off a stick, and sent it down to where the piece of iron was; and the iron floated up).
7 And Elisha said, Take thou (it). Which held forth the hand, and took it (And he put forth his hand, and took it).
8 Forsooth the king of Syria fought against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, and said, Set we ambushments in this place, and in that.
9 And therefore the man of God sent to the king of Israel, and said, Beware, lest thou pass to that place, for (the) men of Syria be there in ambushments.
10 Therefore the king of Israel sent to the place, which the man of God had said to him, and before-occupied it, and kept himself there, not once, neither twice. (And so the king of Israel sent word to the place about which the man of God had warned him, and took precautions whenever he was there, and not just once, or twice.)
11 And the heart of the king of Syria was troubled for this thing; and when his servants were called together, he said, Why show ye not to me, who is my traitor with the king of Israel?
12 And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord the king, but Elisha, the prophet, that is in Israel (who is in Israel), showeth to the king of Israel all things, whatever things thou speakest in thy closet.
13 And the king said to them, Go ye, and see, where he is, that I send, and take him. And they told to him, and said, Lo! he dwelleth in Dothan.

2 Kings 6:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 6

In this chapter are recorded other wonders of Elisha, as causing iron to swim, 2Ki 6:1-7 having knowledge of the secret counsels of the king of Syria, which he disclosed to the king of Israel, 2Ki 6:8-12 smiting the Syrian army with blindness sent to take him, and which he led into the midst of Samaria, 2Ki 6:13-23, and the chapter is closed with an account of the siege of Samaria, and a sore famine in it, 2Ki 6:24-33.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.