"*** ELISHA04 ***" 
"Naaman the Syrian army commander desires to go to Israel to be healed of his leprosy Now Naaman the commander of the armies of the king of Syria was a valiant soldier and highly regarded by his master , but he had leprosy . The Syrians had taken captive a young girl from Israel and she served Naaman s wife . One day she said to her mistress , If mymaster went to the prophet Elisha in Israel , he could cure him of his leprosy . Naaman s wife told her husband what the girl had said , so Naaman went to the king and asked permission to go to Israel . The king of Syria replied , Go then . I will write a letter for"
"you to give to the king of Israel . Naaman sets out with gifts and a letter from his king So Naaman set out with horses and chariots taking with him ten talents of silver , 6000 shekels of gold , and ten sets of clothing . The letter he took from the king of Syria said : I am sending my servant Naaman to you to be cured of his leprosy . The king of Israel is angered by the letter When Joram the king of Israel read the letter he tore his robes and said , Am I God? Why does this fellow send me a man to be cured of leprosy? He is trying to provoke a quarrel with me. Elisha the prophet summons"
"Naaman to his house When Elisha heard that the king had torn his robes he sent him this message , Have the man come to me and he will know there is a prophet in Israel . So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped outside Elisha s house . Elisha sends out a message to him by Gehazi Elisha sent his servant out to him with this message : Go immerse yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored. Naaman walks away angry at the message and Elishas refusal to come out to him Naaman became angry at this and said , I thought he would at least come out to me and call"
"on the name of Jehovah his God , and pass his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy . 12Are not the rivers of Damascus better than the rivers of Israel? Could I notimmerse myself in them and be cured? And he turned and walked off in anger . Naamans servants reason with him But his servants said to him , My lord , if the prophet had told you to perform some great feat, would you not have done it? How much more then , when all he tells you to do is Immerse yourself in the Jordan . Naaman dips himself in the Jordan and is healed So Naaman went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven"
"times as Elisha had said , and his flesh became clear like that of a young boy . Naaman returns to Elisha and proclaims Jehovah as the only true God Then Naaman returned with all his Attendants to Elishas house and stood before Elisha. 16He said, Now I know there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept a gift. Elisha refuses a gift from Naaman Elisha answered, As surely as Jehovah lives whom I serve, I will not accept a thing. And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. Naaman asks for two mule loads of Israelite soil to worship Jehovah on So Naaman said, Well then,"
"please let me have two mules loads of soil. I will never again make offerings to any other god but Jehovah.F * Naaman receives approval to bow to the god Rimmon in the course of duty But may Jehovah forgive me this one thing: When my master the king enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down to his god, and he is leaning on my arm and I bow down with him, may Jehovah forgive your servant for this? Elisha replied, Go in peace. Gehazi is greedy for gain and runs after Naaman After Naaman had left, Gehazi the servant of Elisha said to himself, My master was too easy on this Syrian. I will run after"
"him and get something from him. So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him he stepped down from his chariot to meet him and asked, Is everything all right? Gehazi lies to Naaman Gehazi answered, Everything is all right, but my master sent me to say, Two young men from the school of the prophets have just arrived. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing. Naaman gives Gehazi silver and clothing Naaman said, Certainly, take two talents. And he tied up the talents of silver in two bags along with the sets of clothing and gave them to two of his"
"servants and they carried them back for Gehazi. 25When they neared Elishas house, Gehazi took the load from the servants and sent them on their way. Then he hid the silver and clothing in the house and went in and stood before his master Elisha. Gehazi lies to Elisha Elisha said to him, Where have you been Gehazi? He answered, I have not been anywhere. Gehazi and his descendants punished with Naamans leprosy Elisha said to Gehazi, I was present in spirit when Naaman got down from his chariot to meet you. Is this a time to take money or accept clothes? Naamans leprosy Will cling to you"
"and your descendants forever. 28And Gehazi went out from Elishas presence white with leprosy. The floating axe head One day the prophets said to Elisha, The place where we meet with you is too small for us. Allow us to go down to the Jordan and cut timber to build a bigger place. Elisha said, Go He also went with them, and they began to cut down trees. As one of them did so, an iron axe head flew off and landed in the river. He cried out, O my lord It was borrowed Elisha said, Where did it land? When they showed him the place in the river, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water."
"The iron axe head floated to the surface and they took it up again." 
"*** ELISHA05 ***" 
"Elisha would warn Israels king of Syrias plans Once when the king of Syria was at war with Israel, he conferred with his officers and said, We will set up camp in such and such a place. But Elisha the prophet warned the king of Israel of the plans of the Syrian king so that he was prepared for him. This happened time and time again. The king of Syria became enraged at this and summoned his officers and demanded of them, Which one of you is a spy for the king of Israel? One of his officers replied, None of"
"us my lord the king. It is Elisha the prophet in Israel. He knows every word you speak in private and reveals your plans to the king of Israel. The river Jordan where Elisha caused the axe head to float to the surface. The king of Syria sends an army to capture Elisha The king commanded his officers saying, Find out where he is and I will send men and capture him. The report came back. He is in Dothan. So the king of Syria sent a strong army to Dothan by night , and they surrounded the town . Servant of Elisha sees the hills full of chariots of fire When the servant of Elisha arose early in"
"the morning he saw the Syrian army with horsesand chariots surrounding the town . He cried out to Elisha and said , My lord , what shall we do? Elisha answered , Fear not . Those who are with us are more than those who are with them . Then Elisha prayed saying , O Jehovah , open his eyes so he may see . Then the Lord opened the eyes of Elisha s servant and he saw the hills round about full of horses andchariots of fire . The Lord blinds the Syrian army to reality As the Syrian army entered the town Elisha prayed , O Lord strike these men with blind- ness of understanding . So the Lord closed"
"the eyes of their understanding as Elisha had asked . Elisha leads the Syrian army to the royal city Then Elisha said to the Syrian officers , You are not in the right town . Follow me and I will lead you to the man you are looking for . And he led them to the royal city of Samaria . 13When they entered the gates of the city , Elisha prayed , Lord, open the understanding of these men again , so they can see . 14Then the Syrian army realised they were inside the walls of Samaria . Elisha tells the king to feed the Syrian army When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha , Shall I kill"
"them my father? He answered , Should you kill men you did not capture with your own sword or bow? Rather , set food and water before them so they can eat and drink and then allow them to returnto their master . So the king prepared a feast for them and sent them home . So the Syrians ceased to raid Israel for a time . Syria later besieges the city of Samaria However some time later Ben-Hadad the king of Syria mobilised his entire army andmarched into Israel and laid siege to the city of Samaria . Great famine in the city The siege lasted so long it caused a great famine in the city . A donkey"
"s head sold for eighty shekels of silver , and a quarter of a cab of dove droppings for five shekels . means of mass hypnosis. account of the famine which follows, but is believed to be Joram. unclean animal would not normally be eaten by Israelites, especially not its head. and angers the king One day as the king of Israel was walking along the top of the wall , a woman cried out to him, Help me my lord the king 21This woman said to me , Give up your son that we may eat him today , and tomorrow we will eat my son . So we cooked my son and ate him and the next day I said to her , Now give up"
"your son so we may eat him , but she has hidden him . When the king heard these words he tore his robes in anguish . The people of the city saw that beneath his robes he wore sackcloth onhis body . The king orders Elisha beheaded Then he swore an oath , May God deal with me severely if the head of Elisha remains on his shoulders today So the king sent an executioner to kill Elisha . Elisha aware of the execution order Now Elisha was sitting in his house and some elders of the city were with him . Elisha said to the elders , The murderer is sending someone to cut off my head . 26When the"
"executioner comes , hold the door shut against him, for the sound of his master s footsteps are close behind him . The king angry at the Lords lack of deliverance Even as he spoke the executioner arrived , and shortly afterward the king . The king said to Elisha , This disaster is from the Lord . Why should I wait on him any longer for deliverance? Elisha prophesies abundant food tomorrow Elisha said , Hear the word of Jehovah , This time tomorrow a seah of flour or two seahs of barley will sell for one shekel inthe market place. The kings officer is sceptical The officer on whose arm the"
"king was leaning said to Elisha , Even if Jehovah should open the windows of heaven , this could not happen . Elisha prophesied to him saying , You will see it with your own eyes but will not eat any of it. Four lepers find the Syrian camp deserted Now there were four men with leprosy living outside the city gates . That same day they said to each other , Why should we sit here until we die? Let us go over to the camp of the Syrians and surrender . If they spare us we live , if they kill us then we die . The lepers arrived at the Syrian camp that night but found it deserted , not a man was to"
"be seen anywhere . The Syrians were caused by the Lord to hear the sound of a vast army and had fled For at sunset the Lord had caused the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and horses of a vast army , so that they shouted out to one another , The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us And they all fled for their lives in the darkness , abandoning their tents and their animals . The lepers begin to loot the camp but then decide to report the news to the city The lepers entered two of the tents and ate and drank and took some of the silver and goldand clothes"
"and hid them . But then they said to one another , We are not doing right . This is a time of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves . If we wait until morning , punishment may overtake us . Let us report this now in the city . The king hears the news that night So they went and cried out to the city watchmen saying , We went into the Syrian camp but not a man was there , only the tents , tethered horses and donkeys . The watchmen relayed the news and it was reported to the palace . The king is suspicious The king arose in the night and said to his officers , The Syrians are hiding in"
"the country- side thinking to lure us out and get into thecity. Men sent to investigate One of his officers answered , We are all about to die anyway . Have men take two of the five horses we have left and go find out whathappened . The road to the Jordan strewn with discarded clothing So the king sent out men in two chariots . They followed the trail of the Syrians as far as the Jordan and found the whole road strewn with clothing and equipment the Syrians haddiscarded in their flight . The people go out and plunder the Syrian camp for food When the people of Samaria heard , they rushed out"
"and plundered the camp of the Syrians . So a seah of flour , or two seahs of barley sold for a shekel as the Lord had foretold . The doubting officer trampled to death The officer who had doubted the word of the Lord was put in charge of the gate , but the people trampled him to death in their rush through the gateway , fulfilling the prophecy of Elisha."