2 Reis 6

ARC · Chapter 6/25

¹E disseram os filhos dos prophetas a Eliseo: Eis que o logar em que habitamos diante da tua face, nos é estreito.

²Vamos pois até ao Jordão, e tomemos de lá, cada um de nós, uma viga, e façamo-nos ali um logar, para habitar ali: e disse elle: Ide.

³E disse um: Serve-te d'ires com os teus servos. E disse: Eu irei.

⁴E foi com elles: e, chegando elles ao Jordão, cortaram madeira.

⁵E succedeu que, derribando um d'elles uma viga, o ferro caiu na agua: e clamou, e disse: Ai, meu senhor! porque era emprestado.

⁶E disse o homem de Deus: Onde caiu? E mostrando-lhe elle o logar, cortou um páo, e o lançou ali, e fez nadar o ferro.

⁷E disse: Levanta-o. Então elle estendeu a sua mão e o tomou.

⁸E o rei da Syria fazia guerra a Israel: e consultou com os seus servos, dizendo: Em tal e em tal logar estará o meu acampamento.

⁹Mas o homem de Deus enviou ao rei de Israel, dizendo: Guarda-te de passares por tal logar; porque os syros desceram ali.

¹⁰Pelo que o rei de Israel enviou áquelle logar, de que o homem de Deus lhe dissera, e de que o tinha avisado, e se guardou ali, não uma nem duas vezes.

¹¹Então se turbou com este incidente o coração do rei da Syria, e chamou os seus servos, e lhes disse: Não me fareis saber quem dos nossos é pelo rei de Israel?

¹²E disse um dos seus servos: Não, ó rei meu senhor; mas o propheta Eliseo, que está em Israel, faz saber ao rei de Israel as palavras que tu fallas na tua camara de dormir.

¹³E elle disse: Vae, e vê onde elle está, para que envie, e mande trazel-o. E fizeram-lhe saber, dizendo: Eis que está em Dothan.

¹⁴Então enviou para lá cavallos, e carros, e um grande exercito, os quaes vieram de noite, e cercaram a cidade.

¹⁵E o moço do homem de Deus se levantou mui cedo, e saiu, e eis que um exercito tinha cercado a cidade com cavallos e carros; então o seu moço lhe disse: Ai, meu senhor! que faremos?

¹⁶E elle disse: Não temas; porque mais são os que estão comnosco do que os que estão com elles.

¹⁷E orou Eliseo, e disse: Senhor, peço-te que lhe abras os olhos, para que veja. E o Senhor abriu os olhos do moço, e viu; e eis que o monte estava cheio de cavallos e carros de fogo, em redor de Eliseo.

¹⁸E, como desceram a elle, Eliseo orou ao Senhor, e disse: Fere, peço-te, esta gente de cegueira. E feriu-a de cegueira, conforme a palavra de Eliseo.

¹⁹Então Eliseo lhes disse: Não é este o caminho, nem é esta a cidade; segui-me, e guiar-vos-hei ao homem que buscaes. E os guiou a Samaria.

²⁰E succedeu que, chegando elles a Samaria, disse Eliseo: Ó Senhor, abre a estes os olhos para que vejam. O Senhor lhes abriu os olhos, para que vissem, e eis que estavam no meio de Samaria.

²¹E, quando o rei de Israel os viu, disse a Eliseo: Feril-os-hei, feril-os-hei, meu pae?

²²Mas elle disse: Não os ferirás; feririas tu os que tomasses prisioneiros com a tua espada e com o teu arco? põe-lhes diante pão e agua, para que comam e bebam, e se vão para seu senhor.

²³E apresentou-lhes um grande banquete, e comeram e beberam; e os despediu e foram para seu senhor: e não entraram mais tropas de syros na terra d'Israel.

²⁴E succedeu, depois d'isto, que Ben-*hadad, rei da Syria, ajuntou todo o seu exercito: e subiu, e cercou a Samaria.

²⁵E houve grande fome em Samaria, porque eis que a cercaram, até que se vendeu uma cabeça d'um jumento por oitenta peças de prata, e a quarta parte d'um cabo desterco de pombas por cinco peças de prata.

²⁶E succedeu que, passando o rei pelo muro, uma mulher lhe bradou, dizendo: Acode-me, ó rei meu senhor.

²⁷E elle lhe disse: Se o Senhor te não acode, d'onde te acudirei eu? da eira ou do lagar?

²⁸Disse-lhe mais o rei: Que tens? E disse ella: Esta mulher me disse: Dá cá o teu filho, para que hoje o comamos, e ámanhã comeremos o meu filho.

²⁹Cozemos pois o meu filho, e o comemos; mas dizendo-lhe eu ao outro dia: Dá cá o teu filho, para que o comamos; escondeu o seu filho.

³⁰E succedeu que, ouvindo o rei as palavras d'esta mulher, rasgou os seus vestidos, e ia passando pelo muro; e o povo viu que eis que trazia cilicio por dentro, sobre a sua carne.

³¹E disse: Assim me faça Deus, e outro tanto, se a cabeça de Eliseo, filho de Saphat, hoje ficar sobre elle.

³²Estava então Eliseo assentado em sua casa, e tambem os anciãos estavam assentados com elle. E enviou o rei um homem de diante de si; mas, antes que o mensageiro viesse a elle, disse elle aos anciãos: Vistes como o filho do homicida mandou tirar-me a cabeça? olhae pois que, quando vier o mensageiro lhe fecheis a porta, e o empuxeis para fóra com a porta; porventura não vem o ruido dos pés de seu senhor após elle?

³³E, estando elle ainda fallando com elles, eis que o mensageiro descia a elle; e disse: Eis que este mal vem do Senhor, que mais pois esperaria do Senhor?

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Elisha makes a lost iron axe head float on the Jordan River. Afterward, he repeatedly reveals the secret plans of the Syrian army to the king of Israel, and when the Syrians try to capture him, he temporarily blinds them and leads them to Samaria, where they are fed and released in peace. The chapter ends with Syria besieging Samaria, causing extreme famine.

Explanation

This chapter demonstrates the prophetic reach of Elisha, able to know distant military secrets — an ability the Syrians initially attribute mistakenly to espionage. The scene in which Elisha prays for his servant to see the heavenly armies protecting them ('those who are with us are more than those who are with them') is one of the most comforting images in the Bible about God's invisible protection in moments of fear. The decision to feed the captured enemies, instead of killing them, shows a principle of mercy over vengeance that avoids future conflicts.

Fun facts

Elisha's phrase 'fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them' has become one of the most widely used quotes in contexts of spiritual encouragement to this day, associated with the idea of invisible angelic armies.
The extreme famine in Samaria described at the end of the chapter (including the absurd price of a donkey's head) directly sets the stage for the miracle of deliverance that happens in the next chapter.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Reis 6:1Iron was expensive and the axe head was probably borrowed, hence the young man's despair over losing it in the water. Elisha throws a piece of wood into the river and the iron floats to the surface, a small, homely miracle, quite different from the great scenes of war in the next chapter.
2 Reis 6:2The sons of the prophets propose going to the Jordan to get logs to enlarge the place where they live, already too cramped; Elisha agrees to the idea.
2 Reis 6:3One of them asks Elisha to come along with them, and he agrees to go with them to the Jordan.
2 Reis 6:4The group reaches the Jordan and starts cutting wood for the construction.
2 Reis 6:5The iron head of one man's axe falls into the water, and he becomes desperate because the tool was borrowed.
2 Reis 6:6Elisha asks where the iron fell, cuts off a piece of wood, throws it into the river, and the iron floats up to the surface.
2 Reis 6:7Elisha tells the young man to take the iron back, and he simply reaches out his hand and picks it up.
2 Reis 6:8The king of Syria plans in secret with his advisors where to set up his military camp to attack Israel.
2 Reis 6:9Elisha warns the king of Israel (north) to avoid the very place where the Syrians are hiding, revealing the enemy's plan ahead of time.
2 Reis 6:10The king of Israel follows Elisha's warning repeatedly, escaping ambushes several times in a row.
2 Reis 6:11The king of Syria becomes troubled, thinking there is a spy among his own men leaking information to the king of Israel.
2 Reis 6:12A servant reveals that it isn't treason: it's Elisha who knows even what the king of Syria says in secret in his own bedroom.
2 Reis 6:13The king of Syria orders his men to find out where Elisha is so he can be captured, and he learns that he is at Dothan.
2 Reis 6:14The king of Syria sends horses, chariots, and a great army by night to surround the city of Dothan and capture Elisha.
2 Reis 6:15The spiritual army had been there the whole time, surrounding the Syrians. The miracle isn't summoning new protection, it's opening the frightened young man's eyes to see what was already present around them.
2 Reis 6:16Elisha reassures the frightened servant: those who are on their side are more numerous than those with the enemy army.
2 Reis 6:17Elisha prays for the servant's eyes to be opened, and the young man sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire protecting Elisha.
2 Reis 6:18As the Syrians approach, Elisha prays for them to be struck blind, and the blindness happens exactly as he asked.
2 Reis 6:19Elisha deceives the blinded Syrians by telling them this isn't the way or the right city, and leads them straight into Samaria, the enemy capital.
2 Reis 6:20Once inside Samaria, Elisha asks God to open the Syrians' eyes, and they realize, terrified, that they are in the middle of the enemy city.
2 Reis 6:21The king of Israel, seeing the Syrians helpless and at his mercy, asks Elisha whether he should kill them.
2 Reis 6:22Elisha forbids the killing: since one doesn't kill a prisoner captured in ordinary battle, the order is to give them food and water and send them away in peace.
2 Reis 6:23The king prepares a feast for the captured Syrians and sends them back home; the result is that Syrian raids into Israel stop for a while.
2 Reis 6:24After this episode, Ben-hadad, king of Syria, changes tactics: he gathers his whole army and sets out to besiege Samaria in a real war.
2 Reis 6:25The siege causes such extreme famine that a donkey's head ends up costing eighty pieces of silver, an absurd price even for such unfit food.
2 Reis 6:26The siege drives food prices to absurd levels, a donkey's head for eighty pieces of silver, and to the point of two women agreeing to eat their own sons in turn. It's one of the most shocking accounts in the Bible about the consequences of a prolonged siege, recorded without moralizing comment.
2 Reis 6:27The king answers the woman crying out for help with a hopeless question: “If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?”
2 Reis 6:28The king asks what happened, and the woman reveals the horrible agreement she made with another mother: to eat her son one day and the other woman's son the next.
2 Reis 6:29They really did cook and eat her son; but the next day the other woman hid her own son and did not keep her end of the agreement.
2 Reis 6:30Hearing this, the king tears his clothes in shock, and the people see that underneath he was already wearing sackcloth — a sign he had been mourning in secret even before this report.
2 Reis 6:31Overcome with rage and despair, the king swears he will execute Elisha that very day, blaming the prophet for the disaster of the siege.
2 Reis 6:32Elisha, sitting with the elders, already knows by revelation that the king's messenger is coming to kill him, calls the king a son of a murderer, and orders the door bolted against the messenger.
2 Reis 6:33While Elisha is still speaking, the messenger arrives and asks why they should keep waiting on the Lord, since the disaster came from him in the first place.