2 Kings 8–10

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 poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I hereby anoint you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. ⁷You will destroy the house of Ahab your master, and you will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all of the servants of Yahweh, from the hand of Jezebel. ⁸All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off all males^b from Ahab, both bond and free. ⁹I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and there shall not be anyone to bury her.’ ”^c Then he opened the door and fled.

Jehu Assassinates Joram

¹¹Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, “Peace? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his foolish talk.” ¹²Then they said, “Liar. Please tell us.” He said, “Thus and so^d he said to me, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I hereby anoint you as king over Israel.” ’ ” ¹³So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread them under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, “Jehu is king!”

¹⁴So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the threat^e of Hazael king of Aram. ¹⁵But Joram the king had returned to heal in Jezreel from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, “If this is what you want,^f do not let him go out as a fugitive from the city to go to make it known in Jezreel.” ¹⁶Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. ¹⁷Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them.” And he said, “Is it peace?” ¹⁸So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, “Thus the king asks, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace?^g Turn after me.” Then the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger went up to them, but he did not return.” ¹⁹Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, “Thus the king asks, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace?^h Turn after me.” ²⁰So the sentinel reported, saying, “He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness.”

²¹Then Joram said, “Get ready,” so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²²When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he said, “What peace is there while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?” ²³Joram turned his chariotⁱ and fled and said to Ahaziah, “It’s treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴Then Jehu drew his bow^j and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵He said to Bidkar his third servant, “Lift him out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I were with the pair of chariots behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: ²⁶‘ “Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday,” declares Yahweh, “I will requite it for you in this tract of land,” declares Yahweh.’ So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh.”

Jehu Orders the Assassination of Ahaziah

²⁷When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, “Shoot him also, in the chariot.” They shot him at the ascent of Gur which is in Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo, but he died there. ²⁸Then his officers carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his ancestors^k in the…