2 Kings 7–9

Elisha Prophesies Hope for Relief

7Elisha said, “Hear the word of Yahweh: ‘Thus says Yahweh, “At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat bread flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.’ ” ²Then the officer on whom the king relied^a answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if Yahweh is making windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” And he said, “Look, you will be seeing it with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it there.”

Four Lepers Report the Departure of the Arameans

³Now four men who had a skin disease were at the entrance of the gate, and they said to each other,^b “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall die. So then, come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we shall live; but if they kill us, then we shall die.” ⁵So they got up at dusk to go to the camp of the Arameans. They went up to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, and look, there was no man there! ⁶Now the Lord had caused the camp of the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, and the sound of a great army. So they said to one another,^c “Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!” ⁷So they got up and fled at dusk and left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the camp as it was, and they fled for their lives. ⁸When these who had the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into a certain tent and they ate, drank, and took from there silver and gold and clothes. Then they went and hid them, then returned and came to another tent, and they took from there and went and hid them.

⁹Then they said to one another,^d “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news! If we are silent and wait until the light of morning, we will be punished.^e So then, come, let us go and tell the house of the king.” ¹⁰When they came, they called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no man or the voice of a man there! Only the horses and the donkeys were tied up, and the tents were left as they were.” ¹¹Then the gatekeepers called and told it inside the house of the king. ¹²The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Please let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. The Arameans know that we are hungry, so they went out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, ‘When they go out from the city, we shall seize them alive and go into the city.’ ” ¹³Then one of his servants replied and said, “Please let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in the city; behold, they are like all of the multitude of Israel that remain in it; they are like all the multitude of Israel who have perished. Let us send and see.” ¹⁴So he took two charioteer horsemen, and the king sent after the camp of the Arameans, saying, “Go, find out,” ¹⁵and they went after them to the Jordan. Look, all of the way was littered with clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

Prophecy Fulfilled

¹⁶So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. A seah of wheat flour went for a shekel and two seahs of barley went for a shekel according to the word of Yahweh. ¹⁷Then the king appointed the officer he was depending on over the gate, but the people trampled him and he died, according to that which the man of God had said, which he spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸It happened as the man of God spoke to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel and a seah of wheat flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹Then the officer had replied to the man of God and said, “Look, even if Yahweh is opening the windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” And he had said, “Look you are about to see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it.” ²⁰So it had happened to him; the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

Joram Restores the Shunammite’s Land

8Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land for seven years.” ²So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and dwelt as an alien in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³It happened at the end of seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went out to appeal to the king for her household and for her properties.^{a 4}Now the king was speaking to Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please tell me all of the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵It happened that as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, suddenly the woman whose son he had restored to life was crying out to the king about her household and about her field. Then Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life!” ⁶So the king asked the woman, and she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain court official, saying, “Restore all that is hers and all the yield of the field from the day she left the land up to now.”

⁷Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill, and he was told, “The man of God has come up here.” ⁸Then the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go meet the man of God. Inquire of Yahweh from him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’ ” ⁹So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand of all of the good things of Damascus, a load on each of forty camels, and he came and stood before him. Then he said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’ ” ¹⁰Elisha said to him, “Go; say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he certainly will die.” ¹¹Then the man fixed his gaze and stared at him^b until he was ashamed and the man of God cried. ¹²Then Hazael asked, “Why is my lord crying?” He said, “Because I know what evil you will do to the Israelites.^c You will set their fortifications on fire,^d and you will kill their young men with the sword. Their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open!” ¹³Then Hazael said, “But how could your servant, who is like a dog, do this great thing?” Elisha said, “Yahweh has shown me that you are to be king over Aram.” ¹⁴So he departed from Elisha and came to his master. He asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He said to me that you will certainly recover.” ¹⁵On the next day, he took the bed cover, dipped it in the water, and spread it over his face so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.

Joram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah.^{e 17}He was thirty-two years old^f when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife, and he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹⁹Yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his sons always.

²⁰In his days, Edom rebelled against the rule^g of Judah, and they set up a king over them. ²¹So Joram crossed over to Zair and all the chariots with him. It happened that he arose by night and attacked Edom who had surrounded him and the commanders of the chariots; but the army fled to their tents. ²²So Edom has rebelled against the rule^h of Judah until this day; then Libnah also rebelled at that time. ²³The remainder of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁴So Joram slept with his ancestors,ⁱ and he was buried with his ancestors^j in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son became king in place of him.

Ahaziah Succeeds Joram in Judah

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Joram became king of Judah. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old^k when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel. ²⁷He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸He went with Joram the son of Ahab for the battle against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹Joram the king returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah the son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

Jehu Anointed Prophetically to Rule in Place of Joram of Israel

9Now Elisha the prophet called for one of the sons of the prophets, and he said to him, “Gird your loins, and take this flask of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. ²Go there and look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Go, for you must cause him to arise from among his brothers, and you must bring him into an inner room.^{a 3}You must take the flask of olive oil and pour it out on his head. You must say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I hereby anoint you as king over Israel.” ’ Then you must open the door and flee; do not linger!”

⁴So the young man, servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. ⁵He came, and look, the commanders of the army were sitting there. He said, “I have a word for you, O commander!” Jehu said, “For whom? For all of us?” And he said, “For you, O commander!” ⁶He got up and went to the house, and…