“Sir, why are you crying?” Hazael asked. Elisha answered, “I know the evil you will do to the Israelites: You will set their fortresses on fire, kill their best young men, smash their little children, and rip open their pregnant women.”
So he had the Babylonian king attack them and execute their best young men in their holy temple. He didn’t spare the best men or the unmarried women, the old people or the sick people. God handed all of them over to him.
In one day both of these will happen to you instantly: the loss of your children and your husband. All this will happen to you in spite of your evil magic and your many spells.
Their arrows are sharpened; all their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses’ hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.
Now, hand their children over to famine. Pour out their ⌞blood⌟ by using your sword. Then their wives will become childless widows. Their husbands will be put to death. Their young men will be struck down in battle.
They will take hold of bows and spears. They will be cruel and have no compassion. They will sound like the sea when it roars. They will ride horses. They are ready for war, ready to attack you, people of Babylon.
Its people take hold of bows and spears. They are cruel and have no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea. They ride on horses. They march like soldiers ready for battle against my people Zion.
I saw a second animal. It looked like a bear. It was raised on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, “Get up, and eat as much meat as you want.”
The people of Samaria are guilty as charged because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed in war, their children will be smashed to death, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Even she went into captivity and was exiled. Even her little children were smashed to death at every street corner. Soldiers tossed dice for her important men, and all her best men were bound in chains.