2 Kings 8:9–29

⁹So Hazael loaded 40 camels with all kinds of the finest products of Damascus and went to Elisha. When Hazael met him, he said, “Your servant King Benhadad has sent me to ask you whether or not he will recover from his illness.”

¹⁰Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that he will die; but go to him and tell him that he will recover.” ¹¹Then Elisha stared at him with a horrified look on his face until Hazael became ill at ease. Suddenly Elisha burst into tears. ¹²“Why are you crying, sir?” Hazael asked.

“Because I know the horrible things you will do against the people of Israel,” Elisha answered. “You will set their fortresses on fire, slaughter their finest young men, batter their children to death, and rip open their pregnant women.”

^13*“How could I ever be that powerful?” Hazael asked. “I’m a nobody!”

“The Lord has shown me that you will be king of Syria,” Elisha replied.

¹⁴Hazael went back to Benhadad, who asked him, “What did Elisha say?”

“He told me that you would certainly get well,” Hazael answered. ¹⁵But on the following day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and smothered the king.

And Hazael succeeded Benhadad as king of Syria.

King Johoram of Judah

¹⁶In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab as king of Israel,^r Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah ¹⁷at the age of 32, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. ¹⁸His wife was Ahab’s daughter, and like the family of Ahab he followed the evil ways of the kings of Israel. He sinned against the Lord, ^19*but the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, because he had promised his servant David that his descendants would always continue to rule.

^20*During Jehoram’s reign Edom revolted against Judah and became an independent kingdom. ²¹So Jehoram set out with all his chariots for Zair, where the Edomite army surrounded them. During the night he and his chariot commanders managed to break out and escape, and his soldiers scattered to their homes. ²²Edom has been independent of^s Judah ever since. During this same period the city of Libnah also revolted.

²³Everything else that Jehoram did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ²⁴Jehoram died and was buried in the royal tombs in David’s City, and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

King Ahaziah of Judah

²⁵In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab as king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah ²⁶at the age of 22, and he ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother was Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab and granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. ²⁷Since Ahaziah was related to King Ahab by marriage, he sinned against the Lord, just as Ahab’s family did.

²⁸King Ahaziah joined King Joram of Israel in a war against King Hazael of Syria. The armies clashed at Ramoth in Gilead, and Joram was wounded in battle. ²⁹He returned to the city of Jezreel to recover from his wounds, and Ahaziah went there to visit him.