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.
Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness - not a total and material blindness-for then they could not have followed him-but a mental hallucination (see the notes at Genesis 19:11), that they did not perceive or recognize him to be the object of their search. The Syriac and Arabic versions convey the impression that their sight was obscured by a dense fog or haze.