17. Then Elisha prayed, “O lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
18. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O lord, please make them blind.” So the lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
19. Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria.
20. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
21. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22. “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”
23. So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
24. Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria.
25. As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.