Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 One day the group of prophets that Elisha was in charge of complained to him, "The place where we live is too small!
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The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us.
2 Give us permission to go to the Jordan and cut down some trees, so that we can build a place to live." "All right," Elisha answered.
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Let us go, we pray you, to the Jordan, and take there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you.
3 One of them urged him to go with them; he agreed,
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One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He answered, I will go.
4 and they set out together. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began to work.
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So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.
5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, suddenly his iron ax head fell in the water. "What shall I do, sir?" he exclaimed to Elisha. "It was a borrowed ax!"
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But as one was felling a beam, the ax-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed.
6 "Where did it fall?" Elisha asked. The man showed him the place, and Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in the water, and made the ax head float.
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The man of God said, Where fell it? He shown him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim.
7 "Take it out," he ordered, and the man reached down and picked it up.
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He said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it.
8 The king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his officers and chose a place to set up his camp.
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Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
9 But Elisha sent word to the king of Israel, warning him not to go near that place, because the Syrians were waiting in ambush there.
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The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are coming down.
10 So the king of Israel warned the people who lived in that place, and they were on guard. This happened several times.
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The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice.
11 The Syrian king became greatly upset over this; he called in his officers and asked them, "Which one of you is on the side of the king of Israel?"
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The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?
12 One of them answered, "No one is, Your Majesty. The prophet Elisha tells the king of Israel what you say even in the privacy of your own room."
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One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
13 "Find out where he is," the king ordered, "and I will capture him." When he was told that Elisha was in Dothan,
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He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
14 he sent a large force there with horses and chariots. They reached the town at night and surrounded it.
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Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city.
15 Early the next morning Elisha's servant got up, went out of the house, and saw the Syrian troops with their horses and chariots surrounding the town. He went back to Elisha and exclaimed, "We are doomed, sir! What shall we do?"
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When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
16 "Don't be afraid," Elisha answered. "We have more on our side than they have on theirs."
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He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
17 Then he prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!" The Lord answered his prayer, and Elisha's servant looked up and saw the hillside covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
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Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, Please open his eyes, that he may see. Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 When the Syrians attacked, Elisha prayed, "O Lord, strike these men blind!" The Lord answered his prayer and struck them blind.
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When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
19 Then Elisha went to them and said, "You are on the wrong road; this is not the town you are looking for. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are after." And he led them to Samaria.
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Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. He led them to Samaria.
20 As soon as they had entered the city, Elisha prayed, "Open their eyes, Lord, and let them see." The Lord answered his prayer; he restored their sight, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.
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It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw the Syrians, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, sir? Shall I kill them?"
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The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? shall I strike them?
22 "No," he answered. "Not even soldiers you had captured in combat would you put to death. Give them something to eat and drink, and let them return to their king."
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He answered, You shall not strike them: would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.
23 So the king of Israel provided a great feast for them; and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them back to the king of Syria. From then on the Syrians stopped raiding the land of Israel.
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He prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
24 Some time later King Benhadad of Syria led his entire army against Israel and laid siege to the city of Samaria.
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It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
25 As a result of the siege the food shortage in the city was so severe that a donkey's head cost eighty pieces of silver, and half a pound of dove's dung cost five pieces of silver.
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There was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.
26 The king of Israel was walking by on the city wall when a woman cried out, "Help me, Your Majesty!"
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As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
27 He replied, "If the Lord won't help you, what help can I provide? Do I have any wheat or wine?
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He said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?
28 What's your trouble?" She answered, "The other day this woman here suggested that we eat my child, and then eat her child the next day.
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The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.
29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her that we would eat her son, but she had hidden him!"
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So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son.
30 Hearing this, the king tore his clothes in dismay, and the people who were close to the wall could see that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.
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It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh.
31 He exclaimed, "May God strike me dead if Elisha is not beheaded before the day is over!"
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Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
32 And he sent a messenger to get Elisha. Meanwhile Elisha was at home with some elders who were visiting him. Before the king's messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "That murderer is sending someone to kill me! Now, when he gets here, shut the door and don't let him come in. The king himself will be right behind him."
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But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him?
33 He had hardly finished saying this, when the king arrived and said, "It's the Lord who has brought this trouble on us! Why should I wait any longer for him to do something?"
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While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?