2 Kings 8:9–29

8:9 So Hazael went to visit Elisha.14 He took along a gift,15 as well as16 forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, “Your son,17 King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question,18 ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ” 8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’19 but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.” 8:11 Elisha20 just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable.21 Then the prophet started crying. 8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.” 8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?”22 Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.”23 8:14 He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad24 asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael25 replied, “He told me you would surely recover.” 8:15 The next day Hazael26 took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s27 face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king.

Jehoram’s Reign over Judah

8:16 In the fifth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became king over Judah.28 8:17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.29 8:18 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter.30 He did evil in the sight of31 the Lord. 8:19 But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of32 his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty.33

8:20 During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king.34 8:21 Joram35 crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers.36 The Israelite army retreated to their homeland.37 8:22 So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day.38 At that same time Libnah also rebelled.

8:23 The rest of the events of Joram’s reign, including a record of his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.39 8:24 Joram passed away40 and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Ahaziah replaced him as king.

Ahaziah Takes the Throne of Judah

8:25 In the twelfth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became king over Judah. 8:26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem.41 His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter42 of King Omri of Israel. 8:27 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty and did evil in the sight of43 the Lord, like Ahab’s dynasty, for he was related to Ahab’s family.44

8:28 He joined Ahab’s son Joram in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. 8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians45 in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit46 Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

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14	tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15	tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”
16	tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”
17	sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.
18	tn Heb “saying.”
19	tc The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “Go, say, ‘Surely you will not (לֹא, lo’) recover” In this case the vav beginning the next clause should be translated, “for, because.” The marginal reading (Qere) has, “Go, say to him (לוֹ, lo), ‘You will surely recover.” In this case the vav (ו) beginning the next clause should be translated, “although, but.” The Qere has the support of some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, and is consistent with v. 14, where Hazael tells the king, “You will surely recover.” It is possible that a scribe has changed לוֹ, “to him,” to לֹא, “not,” because he felt that Elisha would not lie to the king. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 90. Another possibility is that a scribe has decided to harmonize Elisha’s message with Hazael’s words in v. 14. But it is possible that Hazael, once he found out he would become the next king, decided to lie to the king to facilitate his assassination plot by making the king feel secure.
20	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21	tn Heb “and he made his face stand [i.e., be motionless] and set [his face?] until embarrassment.”
22	tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.
23	tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”
24	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hazael) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27	tn Heb “his”; the referent (Ben Hadad) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28	tc The Hebrew text reads, “and in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, and [or, ‘while’?] Jehoshaphat [was?] king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.” The first reference to “Jehoshaphat king of Judah” is probably due to a scribe accidentally copying the phrase from the later in the verse. If the Hebrew text is retained, the verse probably refers to the beginning of a coregency between Jehoshaphat and Jehoram.
29	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
30	tn Heb “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife.”
31	tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
32	tn The Hebrew has only one sentence, “and the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah for the sake of.” The translation divides it for the sake of clarity.
33	tn Heb “just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty; this is reflected in the translation.
34	tn Heb “in his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and enthroned a king over them.”
35	sn Joram is a short form of the name Jehoram.
36	tn Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Joram was surrounded and launched a victorious night counterattack. It would then be quite natural to understand the last statement in the verse to refer to an Edomite retreat. Yet v. 22 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. Therefore, if the MT is retained, it may be better to understand the final statement in v. 21 as a reference to an Israelite retreat (made in spite of the success described in the preceding sentence). The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֶתוֹ [’eto], “him,” instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. There is, however, no evidence for this emendation.
37	tn Heb “and the people fled to their tents.”
38	tn Heb “and Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah until this day.”
39	tn Heb “As for the rest of the acts of Joram and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
40	tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
41	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
42	tn Hebrew בַּת (bat), “daughter,” can refer, as here to a granddaughter. See HALOT 166 s.v. בַּת.
43	tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
44	tn Heb “and he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for he was a relative by marriage of the house of Ahab.” For this use of חֲתַן (khatan), normally “son-in-law,” see HALOT 365 s.v. חָתָן. Ahab was Ahaziah’s grandfather on his mother’s side.
45	tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
46	tn Heb “to see.”

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