2 Kings 8:1–9:37
The King Restores the Shunammite’s Land
8 Then Elisha spoke to the woman awhose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord bhas called for a cfamine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land. 4 Then the king talked with dGehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had erestored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him.
So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.”
7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, and fBen-Hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” 8 And the king said to gHazael, h“Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and iinquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ” 9 So jHazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ”
10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the Lord has shown me that khe will really die.” 11 Then he 1set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God lwept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?”
He answered, “Because I know mthe evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you nwill dash their children, and rip open their women with child.”
13 So Hazael said, “But what ois your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?”
And Elisha answered, p“The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria.”
14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would surely recover.” 15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.
16 Now qin the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, rJehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as 2king of Judah. 17 He was sthirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for tthe daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. 19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, uas He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.
20 In his days vEdom revolted against Judah’s authority, wand made a king over themselves. 21 So 3Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. 22 Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. xAnd Libnah revolted at that time.
23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 So Joram 4rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then yAhaziah 5his son reigned in his place.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was ztwenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. 27 aAnd he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
28 Now he went bwith Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at cRamoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 Then dKing Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him at 6Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. eAnd Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
9 And Elisha the prophet called one of athe sons of the prophets, and said to him, b“Get 1yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, cand go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 Now when you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among dhis associates, and take him to an inner room. 3 Then etake the flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.”
4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 And when he arrived, there were the captains of the army sitting; and he said, “I have a message for you, Commander.”
Jehu said, “For which one of us?”
And he said, “For you, Commander.” 6 Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, f“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 7 You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may gavenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, hat the hand of Jezebel. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and iI will cut off from Ahab all jthe males in Israel, both kbond and free. 9 So I will make the house of Ahab like the house of lJeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of mBaasha the son of Ahijah. 10 nThe dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’ ” And he opened the door and fled.
11 Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did othis madman come to you?”
And he said to them, “You know the man and his babble.”
12 And they said, “A lie! Tell us now.”
So he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ ”
13 Then each man hastened pto take his garment and put it 2under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!”
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against qJoram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria. 15 But rKing 3Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, “If you are so minded, let no one leave or escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.” 16 So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was laid up there; sand Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
17 Now a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company of men.”
And Joram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, 4‘Is it peace?’ ”
18 So the horseman went to meet him, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’ ”
And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? 5Turn around and follow me.”
So the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger went to them, but is not coming back.”
19 Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’ ”
And Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me.”
20 So the watchman reported, saying, “He went up to them and is not coming back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously!”
21 Then Joram said, 6“Make ready.” And his chariot was made ready. Then tJoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and 7met him uon the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?”
So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?”
23 Then Joram turned around and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” 24 Now Jehu 8drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. 25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him into the tract of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, that vthe Lord laid this wburden upon him: 26 ‘Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, x‘and I will repay you 9in this plot,’ says the Lord. Now therefore, take and throw him on the plot of ground, according to the word of the Lord.”
27 But when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to 1Beth Haggan. So Jehu pursued him, and said, 2“Shoot him also in the chariot.” And they shot him at the Ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to yMegiddo, and died there. 28 And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the …