The Axe Head Floats

¹Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

²Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.”“Go,” said Elisha.

³Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.”“I will come,” he replied.

⁴So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.

⁵As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

⁶“Where did it fall?” asked the man of God.And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.

⁷“Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.

Elisha Captures the Blinded Arameans

⁸Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

⁹Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.”

¹⁰So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and againElisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

¹¹For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

¹²But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.”On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”

¹⁴the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”

¹⁶“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.”And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.”Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.

²¹And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

²²“Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”

²³So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again.

The Siege and Famine of Samaria

²⁴Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

²⁵So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver,and a quarter cab of dove’s dungsold for five shekels of silver.

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

²⁷He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”

²⁸Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?”And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’

²⁹So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.”

³⁰When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.

³¹He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!”

³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

³³While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

Samuel Subdues the Philistines

¹Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.

²And from that day a long time passed, twenty years in all, as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim. And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the LORD.

³Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So the Israelites put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served only the LORD.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD on your behalf.”

⁶When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judgedthe Israelites at Mizpah.

⁷When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers marched up toward Israel. And when the Israelites learned of this, they feared the Philistines

⁸and said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁹Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

¹⁰As the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel, Samuel was offering up the burnt offering. But that day the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.

¹¹Then the men of Israel charged out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth-car.

¹²Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.He named it Ebenezer,saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped invading the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴The cities from Ekron to Gath, which the Philistines had taken, were restored to Israel, who also delivered the surrounding territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between the Israelites and the Amorites.

¹⁵So Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶Every year he would go on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all these places.

¹⁷Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.

The Birth of Samson

¹Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

²Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

³The angelof the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

⁴Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

⁵For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Naziriteto God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

⁷But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

⁸Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”

⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

¹⁰The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”

¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”“I am,” he said.

¹²Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

¹³So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.

¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.

¹⁷Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”

¹⁸“Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the LORD, “since it is beyond comprehension?”

¹⁹Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.

²⁰When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame.When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

²¹And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD.

²²“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

²³But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”

²⁴So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan,between Zorah and Eshtaol.

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

¹Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;listen to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in parables;I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

³that we have heard and knownand our fathers have relayed to us.

⁴We will not hide them from their childrenbut will declare to the next generationthe praises of the LORD and His mightand the wonders He has performed.

⁵For He established a testimony in Jacoband appointed a law in Israel,which He commanded our fathersto teach to their children,

⁶that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

⁷that they should put their confidence in God,not forgetting His works,but keeping His commandments.

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers,a stubborn and rebellious generation,whose heart was not loyal,whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The archers of Ephraimturned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They failed to keep God’s covenantand refused to live by His law.

¹¹They forgot what He had done,the wonders He had shown them.

¹²He worked wonders before their fathersin the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

¹³He split the sea and brought them through;He set the waters upright like a wall.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by dayand with a light of fire all night.

¹⁵He split the rocks in the wildernessand gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

¹⁶He brought streams from the stoneand made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But they continued to sin against Him,rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

¹⁸They willfully tested Godby demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,“Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰When He struck the rock, water gushed outand torrents raged.But can He also give breador supply His people with meat?”

²¹Therefore the LORD heardand was filled with wrath;so a fire was kindled against Jacob,and His anger flared against Israel,

²²because they did not believe Godor rely on His salvation.

²³Yet He commanded the clouds aboveand opened the doors of the heavens.

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat;He gave them grain from heaven.

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels;He sent them food in abundance.

²⁶He stirred the east wind from the heavensand drove the south wind by His might.

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust,and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

²⁸He felled them in the midst of their camp,all around their dwellings.

²⁹So they ate and were well filled,for He gave them what they craved.

³⁰Yet before they had filled their desire,with the food still in their mouths,

³¹God’s anger flared against them,and He put to death their strongestand subdued the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

³³So He ended their days in futility,and their years in sudden terror.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him;they repented and searched for God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock,that God Most Highwas their Redeemer.

³⁶But they deceived Him with their mouths,and lied to Him with their tongues.

³⁷Their hearts were disloyal to Him,and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate;He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.He often restrained His angerand did not unleash His full wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they disobeyed Him in the wildernessand grieved Him in the desert!

⁴¹Again and again they tested Godand provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

⁴³when He performed His signs in Egyptand His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood,and from their streams they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,and frogs that devastated them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper,the fruit of their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He killed their vines with hailstonesand their sycamore-figs with sleet.

⁴⁸He abandoned their cattle to the hailand their livestock to bolts of lightning.

⁴⁹He unleashed His fury against them,wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He cleared a path for His anger;He did not spare them from deathbut delivered their lives to the plague.

⁵¹He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,the virility in the tents of Ham.

⁵²He led out His people like sheepand guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

⁵³He led them safely, so they did not fear,but the sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴He brought them to His holy land,to the mountain His right hand had acquired.

⁵⁵He drove out nations before themand apportioned their inheritance;He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,for they did not keep His decrees.

⁵⁷They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,twisted like a faulty bow.

⁵⁸They enraged Him with their high placesand provoked His jealousy with their idols.

⁵⁹On hearing it, God was furiousand rejected Israel completely.

⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,the tent He had pitched among men.

⁶¹He delivered His strength to captivity,and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.

⁶²He surrendered His people to the swordbecause He was enraged by His heritage.

⁶³Fire consumed His young men,and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword,but their widows could not lament.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

⁶⁶He beat back His foes;He put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Josephand refused the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸But He chose the tribe of Judah,Mount Zion, which He loved.

⁶⁹He built His sanctuary like the heights,like the earth He has established forever.

⁷⁰He chose David His servantand took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from tending the ewes He brought himto be shepherd of His people Jacob,of Israel His inheritance.

⁷²So David shepherded them with integrity of heartand guided them with skillful hands.