6:1 Some of the prophets 1 said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you 2 is too cramped 3 for us. 6:2 Let’s go to the Jordan. Each of us will get a log from there and we will build a meeting place for ourselves there.” He said, “Go.” 6:3 One of them said, “Please come along with your servants.” He replied, “All right, I’ll come.” 6:4 So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they started cutting down trees. 6:5 As one of them was felling a log, the ax head 4 dropped into the water. He shouted, “Oh no, 5 my master! It was borrowed!” 6:6 The prophet 6 asked, “Where did it drop in?” When he showed him the spot, Elisha 7 cut off a branch, threw it in at that spot, and made the ax head float. 6:7 He said, “Lift it out.” So he reached out his hand and grabbed it.
6:8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade 8 at such and such 9 a place.”
1 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
2 tn Heb “sit before you.”
3 tn Heb “narrow, tight.”
4 tn Heb “iron.”
5 tn Or “ah.”
6 tn Heb “man of God” (also in v. 9).
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tc The verb form used here is difficult to analyze. On the basis of the form נְחִתִּים (nÿkhitim) in v. 9 from the root נָחַת (nakhat), it is probably best to emend the verb to תִּנְחְתוּ (tinkhÿtu; a Qal imperfect form from the same root). The verb נָחַת in at least two other instances carries the nuance “go down, descend” in a military context. For a defense of this view, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 72.
9 sn The advisers would have mentioned a specific location, but the details are not significant to the narrator’s purpose, so he simply paraphrases here.