Second Book of Kings 8

¹ Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had raised to life, ‘Move away with your family, and live where you can in some foreign country, for Yahweh has called up a famine – it is coming on the country already – for seven years.’

² The woman hurried to do what the man of God had told her: she set out, she and her family, and for seven years she lived in the land of the Philistines.

³ When the seven years were over, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to lodge a claim with the king for her house and lands.

⁴ Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. ‘Tell me’ he was saying ‘all the great things Elisha has done.’

⁵ Gehazi was just telling the king how Elisha had raised the dead child to life, when the woman whose son Elisha had raised lodged her claim with the king for her house and lands. ‘My lord king,’ Gehazi said ‘this is the very woman, and that is her son whom Elisha raised to life.’

⁶ The king questioned the woman, who told him the story. The king then referred her to one of the eunuchs, giving him this order: ‘See that all her property is restored to her, and all the revenue from her land from the day she left the country until now’.

⁷ Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Aram was ill, and was told, ‘The man of God has come all the way to us’.

⁸ Then the king said to Hazael, ‘Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God; consult Yahweh through him, and find out if I shall recover from my illness’.

⁹ So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a present the best Damascus could offer, a load for forty camels. He came and standing before him said, ‘Your son Ben-hadad has sent me to ask you, “Shall I recover from my illness?”‘

¹⁰ Elisha answered, ‘Go and tell him, “you will certainly recover”, though Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die’.

¹¹ Then his face went rigid and his look grew fixed, and the man of God wept.

¹² ‘Why’ Hazael asked ‘does my lord weep?’ ‘Because I know’ Elisha replied ‘all the harm you will do the Israelites: you will burn down their fortresses, put their picked warriors to the sword, dash their little children to pieces, rip open their pregnant women.’

¹³ ‘But what is your servant?’ Hazael said. ‘How could this dog achieve anything so great?’ ‘In a vision from Yahweh,’ Elisha replied ‘I have seen you king of Aram.’

¹⁴ Leaving Elisha, Hazael went back to his master who asked, ‘What did Elisha say to you?’ He answered, ‘He told me you would certainly recover’.

¹⁵ Next day he took a blanket, soaked it in water, and spread it over his face.[*a] So died Benhadad, and Hazael succeeded him.

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah.

¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ He followed the example of the kings of Israel as the family of Ahab had done, having taken a wife from the family[*b] of Ahab; he did what is displeasing to Yahweh.

¹⁹ Yahweh, however, did not intend to destroy Judah, because of his servant David, and was faithful to the promise he had made to leave him a lamp for ever in his presence.

²⁰ In this time Edom threw off the domination of Judah and set up a king for itself.

²¹ Jehoram crossed to Zair, and with him all the chariots . . . He rose during the night and, with his chariot commanders, broke through the Edomites encircling him; the people fled to their tents.

²² Thus Edom threw off the domination of Judah, remaining free to the present day. Libnah also revolted. At that time…

²³ The rest of the history of Jehoram, his entire career, is not all this recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?

²⁴ Then Jehoram slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the Citadel of David; his son Ahaziah succeeded him.

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel.

²⁷ He followed the example of the family of Ahab and did what is displeasing to Yahweh as the family of Ahab had done, to whom he was related by marriage.

²⁸ He went with Jehoram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, but the Aramaeans wounded Jehoram.

²⁹ King Jehoram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received at Ramah, fighting against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Jehoram son of Ahab because he was ill.