2nd Kings Chapter 6 verse 18 Holy Bible
And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in ASV
Now when the Aramaeans came down to Elisha, he made a prayer to the Lord saying, Lord, make this people blind. And he made them blind at Elisha's request.
read chapter 6 in BBE
And they came down to him; and Elisha prayed to Jehovah and said, Smite this nation, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in DARBY
And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in KJV
And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in WBT
When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in WEB
And they come down unto it, and Elisha prayeth unto Jehovah, and saith, `Smite, I pray Thee, this nation with blindness;' and He smiteth them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
read chapter 6 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - And when they came down to him. Keil and others suppose this to mean that the Syrians "came down" to Elisha; hut, if they were in the plain that surrounds the hill whereon Dothan was built, as appears from ver. 15, they would have had to ascend in order to reach Elisha, not to descend. We must, therefore, with F. Meyer, Thenius, and Bahr, translate, "When they [Elisha and his servant] came down to them [the Syrians]" - either changing אֵלָיו into אֲלַיהֶם, as Thenius does, or understanding אֵלָיו to refer to the "host" (חַיִל) of the Syrians. Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. Not literal blindness, or they could not have followed Elisha's lead, and marched a distance of twelve miles to Samaria; but a state of confusion and Bewilderment, in which" seeing they saw, but did not perceive" (compare the "blindness" of the men of Sodom, in Genesis 19:11). And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) And when they came down to him.--This would mean that the Syrians came down to Elisha. But the prophet was, to begin with, in the city, which lay on the top of the hill; and the heavenly host intervened between him and his enemies, so that the latter must have occupied the lower position. The reading of the Syriac and Josephus ?s, "and they (i.e., Elisha and his servant) went down to them"--i.e., to the Syrian force; and this is apparently right. The sight of the heavenly host guarding his master had inspired the prophet's follower with courage to face any danger in his master's company.Elisha prayed.--And Elisha; prayed--mentally, as he approached his foes.This people.--Perhaps in the sense of multitude.Blindness.--Sanw?rim: the term used in Genesis 19:11, and nowhere besides. It denotes not so much blindness as a dazing effect, accompanied by mental bewilderment and confusion. "They saw, but knew not what they saw" (Rashi). Ewald pronounces the passage in Genesis the model of the present one.
