2nd Kings — 6

The Floating Ax Head

1 One day the group of Nabym came to Alysha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. 

2 Let us go down to the Yurdan 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 “Please come with us they said to him,  and Alysha responded; “I will come with you. 

4 So Alysha went with them. When they arrived at the Yurdan, they began cutting down trees. 

5 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 “Where did it fall?” the servant of  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH asked. When he showed him the place, Alysha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. 

7 “Grab it,” Alysha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.

Alysha Traps the Aramaans 

8 When the king of Aram was at war with Yashar'AL, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”

9 But immediately Alysha, the servant of  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, would warn the king of Yashar'AL, “Do not go near that place, for the Aramaans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” 

10 So the king of Yashar'AL would send word to the place indicated by the servant of  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. Time and again Alysha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.

11 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 Yashar'AL of my plans?”

12 “It’s not us, my master the king,” one of the officers replied. “Alysha, the Nabym in Yashar'AL, tells the king of Yashar'AL even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”

13 “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: Alysha is at Duthan.” 

14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.

15 When the servant of Alysha 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 Alysha.

16 “Do not be afraid!” Alysha told him. “For there are more troops on our side than on their side!” 

17 Then Alysha prayed, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, open his eyes and let him see!” Then  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Alysha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

18 As the Aramaan army advanced toward him, Alysha prayed, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, please make them blind.” So 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH struck them with blindness as Alysha had asked.

19 Then Alysha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This is not 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 As soon as they had entered Samaria, Alysha prayed, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, now open their eyes and let them see.” So  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.

21 When the king of Yashar'AL saw them, he shouted to Alysha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”

22 “Of course not!” Alysha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”

23 So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramaan raiders stayed away from the land of Yashar'AL.

Ban-Hadad Besieges Samaria

24 Some time later, however, King Ban-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. 

25 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 One day as the king of Yashar'AL was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my master the king!”

27 He answered, “If 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH does not help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” 

28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let us eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 

29 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 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 “May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH strike me and even kill me if I do not separate Alysha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed.

32 Alysha was sitting in his house with the elders of Yashar'AL when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Alysha 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 Alysha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king said, “All this misery is from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH! Why should I wait for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH any longer?”