2 Kings 8:9–29

⁹So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels’ loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, ^z“Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’ ” ¹⁰And Elisha said to him, ^a“Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but¹ the Lord has shown me that ^bhe shall certainly die.” ¹¹And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, ^cuntil he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. ¹²And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know ^dthe evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword ^eand dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” ¹³And Hazael said, “What is your servant, ^fwho is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, ^g“The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” ¹⁴Then 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 ^hthat you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵But the next day he took the bed cloth² and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶In the fifth year of ⁱJoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah,³ Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign. ¹⁷He was ^jthirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for ^kthe daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, ^lsince he promised to give ^ma lamp to him and to his sons forever.

²⁰In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah and set up ⁿa king of their own. ²¹Then Joram⁴ passed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, but his army ^ofled home. ^22pSo Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then ^qLibnah revolted at the same time. ²³Now 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? ²⁴So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried ^rwith his fathers in the city of David, and ^sAhaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah

^25tIn the ^utwelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. ²⁶Ahaziah was ^vtwenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah; she was ^wa granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.

²⁸He went with Joram the son of Ahab to make war against ^xHazael king of Syria at ^yRamoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. ^29zAnd King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him at ^aRamah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And ^bAhaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.