2 Kings 7–9

Aram Defeated

7Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, six quarts ^fof fine meal will sell for a shekel ^gand 12 quarts ^hof barley will sell for a shekel.’ ” ^ij

²Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man, ^kresponded to the man of God, ^l“Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” ^m

Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.” ⁿ

³Four men with a skin disease ^owere at the entrance to the gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s go to the Arameans’ camp. ^pIf they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

⁵So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that there was not a single man there, ⁶for the Lord ^qhad caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army. ^rThe Arameans had said to each other, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites ^sand the kings of Egypt ^tto attack us.” ⁷So they had gotten up and fled ^uat twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.

⁸When these men came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them. They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them. ^v9Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. ^wIf we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will catch up with us. Let’s go tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰The diseased men went and called to the city’s gatekeepers and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—no human sounds. There was nothing but tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.” ¹¹The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported to the king’s household.

¹²So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, ^xso they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.’ ” ^y

¹³But one of his servants responded, “Please, let messengers take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate is like the entire Israelite community who will die, ^zso let’s send them and see.”

¹⁴The messengers took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. ^a

It was then that six quarts ^bof fine meal sold for a shekel ^cand 12 quarts ^dof barley sold for a shekel, ^eaccording to the word of the Lord. ^f17The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man, ^gto be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king came to him. ¹⁸When the man of God had said to the king, “About this time tomorrow 12 quarts ^hof barley will sell for a shekel ⁱand six quarts ^jof fine meal will sell for a shekel ^kat the gate of Samaria,” ¹⁹this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.” ^l20This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

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 and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the Lord has announced a seven-year famine, ⁿand 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 foreigners 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, ^oshe went to appeal to the king for her house and field. ^p

⁴The king had been speaking to Gehazi, ^qthe 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 ^swhile Ben-hadad ^tking of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God ^uhas come here.” ⁸So the king said to Hazael, ^v“Take a gift ^wwith you and go meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ” ^x

⁹Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift: 40 camel-loads of all kinds of goods from Damascus. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son, ^yBen-hadad king 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 ^zrecover.’ But the Lord has shown me that he is sure to die.” ¹¹Then Elisha stared steadily at him until Hazael was ashamed. ^a

The man of God wept, ^b12and 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 little ones to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women.” ^c

¹³Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, ^ddo this monstrous thing?”

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

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 instead of him.

Judah’s King Jehoram

¹⁶In the fifth year ^fof Israel’s King Joram ^gson of Ahab, Jehoram ^hison of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah, replacing his father. ^jk17He was 32 years old when he became king and reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ^l18He walked in the way 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. ^m19The Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah because of His servant David, since He had promised to give a lamp ⁿto David and his sons forever. ^o

²⁰During Jehoram’s reign, Edom rebelled against Judah’s control and appointed their own king. ^p21So 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. ^q22So Edom is still in rebellion against Judah’s control today. Libnah ^ralso 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. ^s24Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place. ^t

Judah’s King Ahaziah

²⁵In the twelfth year of Israel’s King Joram son of Ahab, ^uAhaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. ^v26Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king and reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Israel’s King Omri. ^w27He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab, ^xfor he was a son-in-law to Ahab’s family.

²⁸Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael ^yking of Aram in Ramoth-gilead, ^zand the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel ^ato recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead ^bwhen he fought against Aram’s King Hazael. ^cThen 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 ^dand said, “Tuck your mantle ^eunder your belt, take this flask of oil ^fwith you, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ^g2When you get there, look for Jehu ^hson 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.” ’ ⁱOpen the door and escape. Don’t wait.” ⁴So the young prophet 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. ^j8The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will eliminate all of Ahab’s males, ^kboth slave and free, in Israel. ^l9I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. ^m10The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at…