<p class="bodytext">When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho,<n id="1" /> who were standing at a distance,<n id="2" /> saw him do this, they said, &#8220;The spirit that energized Elijah<n id="3" /> rests upon Elisha.&#8221; They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

<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" />

<p class="bodytext">Sure enough, the next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water came flowing down from Edom and filled the land.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him<n id="1" /> and he told his servant, &#8220;Put the big pot on the fire<n id="2" /> and boil some stew for the prophets.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So he threw a big banquet<n id="1" /> for them and they ate and drank. Then he sent them back<n id="2" /> to their master. After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel.p>

So the woman did as the prophet said.<n id="1" /> She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field.<n id="1" />

He conquered all the land of Gilead, including the territory of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh, extending all the way from the Aroer in the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.<n id="1" />p>

All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah with the sword in the royal palace.p>

Then Elisha<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Take the arrows,&#8221; and he did so.<n id="2" /> He told the king of Israel, &#8220;Strike the ground!&#8221; He struck the ground three times and stopped.

Pul<n id="1" /> king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid<n id="2" /> him<n id="3" /> a thousand talents<n id="4" /> of silver to gain his support<n id="5" /> and to solidify his control of the kingdom.<n id="6" />

Furthermore it was by the command of the <sc>Lordsc> that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The <sc>Lordsc> told me, &#8216;March<n id="1" /> up against this land and destroy it.&#8217;&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.<n id="1" /> Do you really think you will be rescued?<n id="2" />

Now, O <sc>Lordsc> our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, <sc>Lordsc>, are the only God.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah.<n id="1" />

Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety.<n id="1" /> He said, &#8220;You don&#8217;t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.&#8221;

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.

So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel,<n id="1" /> so they broke off the attack<n id="2" /> and returned to their homeland.p>

<p class="bodytext">He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman<n id="1" /> came and stood before him. He said, &#8220;For sure<n id="2" /> I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, &#8220;You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while,<n id="1" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.&#8221;