Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageAs the Aramean army swept down toward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh: 'Strike this army with blindness.' And He did — exactly as Elisha asked.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GAnd when they came down toward him, Elisha prayed to YHWH: 'Strike this people with blindness, I pray.' And He struck them with blindness, just as Elisha had asked.
KJV
King James VersionAnd 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.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleAs the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
Footnotes
The Hebrew *סַנְוֵרִים* (*sanverim*) is an extraordinarily rare word, appearing only here and in Genesis 19:11, where the men of Sodom are struck with it at Lot's door. It likely denotes sudden dazzlement or perceptual disorientation rather than clinical blindness — a divine interruption of the ability to perceive correctly. The intertextual echo is deliberate: as the men of Sodom were struck *sanverim* when they sought to seize the angels, so the Arameans are struck *sanverim* when they seek to seize YHWH's prophet. English has no precise equivalent, so both translations render it 'blindness,' though the rarity of the Hebrew invites the attentive reader to sense that something stranger and more particular is happening.