1. One day the group of prophets that Elisha was in charge of complained to him, “The place where we live is too small!
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.
3. One of them urged him to go with them; he agreed,
4. and they set out together. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began to work.
5. As one of them was cutting down a tree, suddenly his iron axe head fell in the water. “What shall I do, sir?” he exclaimed to Elisha. “It was a borrowed axe!”
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 axe head float.
7. “Take it out,” he ordered, and the man bent down and picked it up.
8. The king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his officers and chose a place to set up his 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.
10. So the king of Israel warned the people who lived in that place, and they were on guard. This happened several times.
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?”
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.”
13. “Find out where he is,” the king ordered, “and I will capture him.”When he was told that Elisha was in Dothan,
14. he sent a large force there with horses and chariots. They reached the town at night and surrounded it.
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?”