The <sc>Lordsc> had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, &#8220;Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When Athaliah heard the royal guard<n id="1" /> shout, she joined the crowd<n id="2" /> at the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

<p class="bodytext">The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.

<p class="poetry">Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?p> <p class="poetry">At whom have you shouted,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and looked so arrogantly?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">At the Holy One of Israel!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child&#8217;s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha<n id="1" /> he told him, &#8220;The child did not wake up.&#8221;

So they went and called out to the gatekeepers<n id="1" /> of the city. They told them, &#8220;We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn&#8217;t even hear a man&#8217;s voice.<n id="2" /> But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.&#8221;<n id="3" />

This happened because they did not obey<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> their God and broke his agreement with them.<n id="2" /> They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant, had commanded.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders.<n id="1" /> The king<n id="2" /> sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived,<n id="3" /> Elisha<n id="4" /> said to the leaders,<n id="5" /> &#8220;Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?&#8221;<n id="6" /> Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.&#8221;<n id="7" />

<p class="bodytext">He wrote them a second letter, saying, &#8220;If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me,<n id="1" /> then take the heads of your master&#8217;s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent<n id="3" /> men of the city were raising them.