2 Kings 8–10

THE SHUNAMMITE’S LAND RESTORED

8Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life,^m “Get ready, you and your household, and go live as a resident alien wherever you can. For the Lord has announced a seven-year famine,ⁿ and it has already come to the land.”

²So the woman got ready and did what the man of God said. She and her household lived as resident aliens in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³When the woman returned from the land of the Philistines at the end of seven years,^o she went to appeal to the king for her house and field.^p

⁴The king had been speaking to Gehazi,^q the attendant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things Elisha has done.”

⁵While he was telling the king how Elisha restored the dead son to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life came to appeal to the king for her house and field. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”^r

⁶When the king asked the woman, she told him the story. So the king appointed a court official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the income from the field from the day she left the country until now.”

ARAM’S KING HAZAEL

⁷Elisha came to Damascus^s while King Ben-hadad^t of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God^u has come here.” ⁸So the king said to Hazael,^a “Take a gift^b with you and go meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ”^c

⁹Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift: forty camel-loads of all the finest products of Damascus. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son,^d King Ben-hadad of Aram, has sent me to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ”

¹⁰Elisha told him, “Go say to him, ‘You are sure to^A recover.’ But the Lord has shown me that he is sure to die.” ¹¹Then he stared steadily at him until he was ashamed.^e

The man of God wept,^{f 12}and Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?”

He replied, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their children to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women.”^g

¹³Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog,^h do such a mighty deed?”

Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”ⁱ

¹⁴Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

He responded, “He told me you are sure to recover.” ¹⁵The next day Hazael took a heavy cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.

JUDAH’S KING JEHORAM

¹⁶In the fifth year^j of Israel’s King Joram^k son of Ahab, Jehoram^Al son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah, replacing his father.^{Bm 17}He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.^{n 18}He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.^{o 19}For the sake of his servant David, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah, since he had promised to give a lamp^pC to David and his sons forever.^q

²⁰During Jehoram’s reign, Edom rebelled against Judah’s control and appointed their own king.^{r 21}So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. Then at night he set out to attack the Edomites who had surrounded him and the chariot commanders, but his troops fled to their tents.^{s 22}So Edom is still in rebellion against Judah’s control today. Libnah^t also rebelled at that time.

²³The rest of the events of Jehoram’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{u 24}Jehoram rested with his ancestors and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.^v

JUDAH’S KING AHAZIAH

²⁵In the twelfth year of Israel’s King Joram son of Ahab,^w Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.^{x 26}Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Israel’s King Omri.^{y 27}He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab,^z for his father had married into^D the house of Ahab.

²⁸Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against King Hazael^aa of Aram in Ramoth-gilead,^ab and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel^ac to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead^E when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael.^ad Then Judah’s King Ahaziah son of Jehoram went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab since Joram was ill.

JEHU ANOINTED AS ISRAEL’S KING

9The prophet Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets^ae and said, “Tuck your mantle^af under your belt, take this flask of oil^ag with you, and go to Ramoth-gilead.^{ah 2}When you get there, look for Jehu^ai son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his colleagues, and take him to an inner room. ³Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I anoint you king over Israel.” ’^aj Open the door and escape. Don’t wait.” ⁴So the young prophet^A went to Ramoth-gilead.

⁵When he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there, so he said, “I have a message for you, commander.”

Jehu asked, “For which one of us?”

He answered, “For you, commander.”

⁶So Jehu got up and went into the house. The young prophet poured the oil on his head and said, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel. ⁷You are to strike down the house of your master Ahab so that I may avenge the blood shed by the hand of Jezebel—the blood of my servants the prophets and of all the servants of the Lord.^{a 8}The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will wipe out all of Ahab’s males,^B both slave and free,^C in Israel.^{b 9}I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.^{c 10}The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel—no one will bury her.’ ”^d Then the young prophet opened the door and escaped.

¹¹When Jehu came out to his master’s servants, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this crazy person^e come to you?”

Then he said to them, “You know the sort and their ranting.”

¹²But they replied, “That’s a lie! Tell us!”

So Jehu said, “He talked to me about this and that and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ ”

¹³Each man quickly took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps.^Df They blew the trumpet^g and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”^h

¹⁴Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.ⁱ Joram and all Israel had been at Ramoth-gilead on guard against King Hazael of Aram. ¹⁵But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael. Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king,^E then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go tell about it in Jezreel.”

JEHU KILLS JORAM AND AHAZIAH

¹⁶Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel since Joram was laid up there and King Ahaziah of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. ¹⁷Now the watchman^j was standing on the tower in Jezreel. He saw Jehu’s mob approaching and shouted, “I see a mob!”

Joram responded, “Choose a rider and send him to meet them and have him ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’ ”^k

¹⁸So a horseman went to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Do you come in peace?’ ”

Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

The watchman reported, “The messenger reached them but hasn’t started back.”

¹⁹So he sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Do you come in peace?’ ”

Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

²⁰Again the watchman reported, “He reached them but hasn’t started back. Also, the driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi^l—he drives like a madman.”

²¹“Get the chariot ready!” Joram shouted, and they got it ready. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu at the plot of land of Naboth the Jezreelite.^{m 22}When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”

He answered, “What peace can there be as long as there is so much prostitution and sorcery from your mother Jezebel?”ⁿ

²³Joram turned around and fled, shouting to Ahaziah, “It’s treachery,^o Ahaziah!”

²⁴Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow went through his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.^{p 25}Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite.^q For remember when you and I were riding side by side behind his father Ahab, and the Lord uttered this pronouncement against him: ²⁶‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘so will I repay you on this plot of land’—this is the Lord’s declaration. So now, according to the word of the Lord, pick him up and throw him on the plot of land.”^r

²⁷When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot him in his chariot^A at Gur Pass near Ibleam,^s but he fled to Megiddo^t and died there.^{u 28}Then his servants carried him to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in his ancestors’ tomb in the city of David.^{v 29}It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.^w

JEHU KILLS JEZEBEL

³⁰When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, so she painted her eyes,^a fixed her hair,^B and looked down from the window. ³¹As Jehu entered the city gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri,^b killer of your master?”

³²He…