The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New Living Translation NLT
1 The guild prophets said to Elisha, "As you can see, the place where we are living in order to be with you is too small for us.
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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.
2 Please allow us to go to the Yarden; each of us will collect a log there, and we'll build a place there for us to live." He answered, "Go ahead."
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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.” “All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”
3 But one of them said, "Please, won't you come with your servants?" He answered, "All right, I will";
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“Please come with us,” someone suggested. “I will,” he said.
4 so he went with them. When they arrived at the Yarden, they cut down trees;
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So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.
5 but as one was felling a tree trunk, the head of his axe fell in the water. "Oh, no!" he cried. "My master, it was a borrowed one!"
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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!”
6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" He showed him the place. Then Elisha cut a stick, threw it in there, and the iron axe-head floated to the surface.
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“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.
7 "Lift it out," he said. So he put out his hand and took it.
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“Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.
8 Now the king of Aram went to war against Isra'el; and in consulting his servants he said, "I'll set up my ambush camp in such-and-such a place."
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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.”
9 The man of God sent this message to the king of Isra'el: "Be careful not to go past such-and-such a place, because Aram will attack there."
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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.”
10 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,
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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.
11 and it greatly upset the king of Aram. He called his servants and said to them, "Tell me which of you is betraying us to the king of Isra'el?"
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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?”
12 One of his servants replied, "It's not that, my lord, king. Rather, Elisha, the prophet who is in Isra'el, tells the king of Isra'el the words you speak privately in your own bedroom!"
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“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!”
13 He said, "Go and see where he is, so that I can send and bring him here." They told him, "He's in Dotan."
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“Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.”
14 So he sent horses, chariots and a large army there; they came by night and surrounded the city.
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So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.
15 The servant of the man of God got up early in the morning; on going outside, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to him, "Oh, my master, this is terrible! What are we going to do?"
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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.
16 He answered, "Don't be afraid - those who are with us outnumber those who are with them!"
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“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”
17 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.
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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.
18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to ADONAI, "Please strike these people blind"; and he struck them blind, as Elisha had asked.
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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.
19 Next, Elisha told them, "You've lost your way, and this isn't even the right city. Follow me, and I'll take you to the man you're looking for." Then he led them to Shomron.
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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.
20 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.
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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.
21 When the king of Isra'el saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, should I attack them? Should I attack them?"
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When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22 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."
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“Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”
23 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.
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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.
24 But some time afterwards, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up and laid siege to Shomron.
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Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria.
25 At the time, there was a severe famine in Shomron; and they maintained their siege until a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver and half a pint of doves' dung for five pieces of silver.
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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 of silver.
26 As the king of Isra'el was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord, king!"
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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!”
27 He said, "If ADONAI isn't helping you, how do you expect me to help you? There isn't any grain, and there isn't any wine."
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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.”
28 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.'
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But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 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."
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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.”
30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. At the time, he was passing by on the wall; and when the people looked, they saw him there with sackcloth against his skin.
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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.
31 Then he said, "May God do terrible things to me, and worse ones too, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat remains on his body by day's end."
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“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.
32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the leaders were sitting there with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door and keep it shut against him. You can hear his master's footsteps following right behind him!"
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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.”
33 While he was still speaking, the messenger arrived with this message from the king: "Here, this evil is from ADONAI. Why should I wait for ADONAI any longer?"
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While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king said, “All this misery is from the LORD ! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.