6:1 众先知的弟子对厄里叟说：「看，我们同你住的地方太窄小了，
The guild prophets once said to Elisha: "There is not enough room for us to continue to live here with you. 6:2 请你让我们到约旦河去，每人取一根梁木，在那里建造我们的住所。」他答说：「你们去罢！」
Let us go to the Jordan, where by getting one beam apiece we can build ourselves a place to live." "Go," Elisha said. 6:3 其中一个人说：「请你也同你的仆人一起去！」厄里叟答说：「我去。」
"Please agree to accompany your servants," one of them requested. "Yes, I will come," he replied. 6:4 先知便同他们一起去了。他们到了约旦河，就砍伐树木。
So he went with them, and when they arrived at the Jordan they began to fell trees. 6:5 其中一个，砍木梁时，斧头掉在水里了，就大声叫喊说：哎呦！我主，这把斧子是借来的啊！」
While one of them was felling a tree trunk, the iron axhead slipped into the water. "O master," he cried out, "it was borrowed!" 6:6 天主的人问他说：「斧头掉在那里﹖」那人将那地方指给先知看。先知即砍下一块木头，丢在那里，使斧头浮了上来。
"Where did it fall?" asked the man of God. When he pointed out the spot, Elisha cut off a stick, threw it into the water, and brought the iron to the surface. 6:7 先知对他说：「你拿上来罢！」他就伸手拿了上来。
"Pick it up," he said. And the man reached down and grasped it. 6:8 阿兰王同以色列交战时，与自己的臣仆商议说：要在某某地方埋伏。
When the king of Aram was waging war on Israel, he would make plans with his servants to attack a particular place. 6:9 但天主的人打发人去见以色列王说：「你要小心提防，不要经过某某地方，因为阿兰人已在那里设下埋伏。」
But the man of God would send word to the king of Israel, "Be careful! Do not pass by this place, for Aram will attack there." 6:10 以色列王就派人去侦察天主的人警告他的地方；他就小心防备，不只一两次。
So the king of Israel would send word to the place which the man of God had indicated, and alert it; then they would be on guard. This happened several times. 6:11 阿兰王为了此事心中颇为烦恼，遂将臣仆召来，对他们说：「难道你们不能告诉我：我们中谁支持以色列王吗﹖」
Greatly disturbed over this, the king of Aram called together his officers. "Will you not tell me," he asked them, "who among us is for the king of Israel?" 6:12 一个臣仆答说：「我主，大王！没有谁支持，只有以色列的先知厄里叟，将君王在密室里所谈的事，都告诉了以色列王。」
"No one, my lord king," answered one of the officers. "The Israelite prophet Elisha can tell the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom." 6:13 阿兰王说：「你们去看看他在那里，我好派人去捉拿。」有人告诉君王说：「他在多堂。」
"Go, find out where he is," he said, "so that I may take him captive." Informed that Elisha was in Dothan, 6:14 阿兰王就打发马队战车和强大的部队前去，夜间到了那里，将城围住。
he sent there a strong force with horses and chariots. They arrived by night and surrounded the city. 6:15 天主的人的仆人清早起来出门时，看见军队车马将城包围了，就对先知说：「哎！我主，我们怎么办﹖」
Early the next morning, when the attendant of the man of God arose and went out, he saw the force with its horses and chariots surrounding the city. "Alas!" he said to Elisha. "What shall we do, my lord?" 6:16 先知答说：「不必害怕，因为偕同我们的，比他们的还多。」
"Do not be afraid," Elisha answered. "Our side outnumbers theirs." 6:17 厄里叟就祈祷说：「上主，求你开后他的眼，叫他看见。」上主就开了仆人的眼，他看见遍山都是火马车，围绕着厄里叟。
Then he prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes, that he may see." And the LORD opened the eyes of the servant, so that he saw the mountainside filled with horses and fiery chariots around Elisha. 6:18 敌人下到先知那里的时候，厄里叟恳求上主说：「求你打击这个民族，使他们眼目失明。」上主果然照厄里叟的话打击了他们，使他们眼目失明。
When the Arameans came down to get him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike this people blind, I pray you." And in answer to the prophet’s prayer the LORD struck them blind. 6:19 厄里叟对他们说：「不是这条路，也不是这座城；你们跟我来，我要领你们到你们寻找的人那里去。」于是先知领他们到了撒玛黎雅。
Then Elisha said to them: "This is the wrong road, and this is the wrong city. Follow me! I will take you to the man you want." And he led them to Samaria. 6:20 他们一进了撒玛黎雅，厄里叟就祈祷说：「上主，开启这些人的眼睛，叫他们看见。」上主果然开了他们的眼睛；他们一看，见自己竟在撒玛黎雅城内。
When they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open their eyes that they may see." The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. 6:21 以色列王看见他们，就对厄里叟说：「我父，要杀死他们吗﹖」
When the king of Israel saw them, he asked, "Shall I kill them, my father?" 6:22 厄里叟答说：「不要杀他们；你自己用弓剑掳来的人，你岂可杀死﹖你要为这些人预备饭和水，叫他们吃喝，然后让他们回到自己的主上那里去。」
"You must not kill them," replied Elisha. "Do you slay those whom you have taken captive with your sword or bow? Serve them bread and water. Let them eat and drink, and then go back to their master." 6:23 君王就给他们预备了盛宴，叫他们吃了喝了，打发他们回到自己的主上那里去。从此，阿兰队伍再没有侵犯以色列地方。
The king spread a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went back to their master. No more Aramean raiders came into the land of Israel. 6:24 这事以后，阿兰王本哈达得集合了他所有的军队，上来围困撒玛黎雅。
After this, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, mustered his whole army and laid siege to Samaria. 6:25 撒玛黎雅被围困后，陷于严重的饥荒，甚至一个驴头，值八十「协刻耳」银子，四分之一「卡步」豆荚，值五「协刻耳」银子。
Because of the siege the famine in Samaria was so severe that an ass’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a fourth of a kab of wild onion for five pieces of silver. 6:26 当以色列王从城墙上经过时，有一个妇人呼求他说：「我主大王，救救我罢！」
One day, as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord king!" 6:27 君王答说：「如果上主不救你，我怎能救你﹖靠禾场﹖靠酒池﹖」
"No," he replied, "the LORD help you! Where could I find help for you: from the threshing floor or the winepress?" 6:28 君王问那妇人说：「你有什么事﹖」妇人答说：「这个女人曾对我说：把你的儿子交出来，我们今天吃；留下我的儿子，我们明天吃。
Then the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She replied: "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son that we may eat him today; then tomorrow we will eat my son.' 6:29 于是我们就把我的儿子煮着吃了。第二天我对那女人说：把你的儿子交出来给我们吃，她却把自己的儿子藏了起来。」
So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Now give up your son that we may eat him.' But she hid her son." 6:30 君王听了这妇人的话，就撕裂了自己的衣服，─当他正在城墙上经过，民众都看见了他贴身穿著苦衣，─
When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his garments. And as he was walking on the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath, next to his skin. 6:31 说「如果沙法特的儿子厄里叟的头，今天还留在他身上，愿天主严厉，且加倍严厉地惩罚我！」
"May God do thus and so to me," the king exclaimed, "if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat, stays on him today!" 6:32 那时厄里叟正坐在屋里，长老们同他坐在一起，君王派一个人在他以前去，但是这人还未来到，厄里叟就对长老们说：「你们看，这个凶手之子，竟派人来要斩我的头。你们注意，使者来到时，你们要把门关上，把他关在门外；在他后面不就是他主上的脚步声吗﹖」
Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting in his house in conference with the elders. The king had sent a man ahead before he himself should come to him. Elisha had said to the elders: "Do you know that this son of a murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you close the door and hold it fast against him. His master’s footsteps are echoing behind him." 6:33 先知还同他们说话的时候，君王就下到他那里说：「这灾难是由上主来的，我对上主还有什么指望﹖」
While Elisha was still speaking, the king came down to him and said, "This evil is from the LORD. Why should I trust in the LORD any longer?"