<t /><p class="bodytext">The men of the city said to Elisha, &#8220;Look, the city has a good location, as our<n id="1" /> master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn&#8217;t produce crops.&#8221;<n id="2" />

The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.<n id="1" />

He asked, &#8220;What is this grave marker I see?&#8221; The men from the city replied, &#8220;It&#8217;s the grave of the prophet<n id="1" /> who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.&#8221;

The enemy broke through the city walls,<n id="1" /> and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night.<n id="2" /> They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king&#8217;s garden.<n id="3" /> (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.<n id="4" />

<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.

From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five<n id="1" /> of the king&#8217;s advisers<n id="2" /> who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens<n id="3" /> for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.