2 Kings 13:10–25

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.

¹¹He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in ¹them.

^12aNow the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹³So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴When Elisha ¹became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over ²him and said, “^aMy father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

¹⁵Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he ¹took a bow and arrows.

¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will ¹defeat the Arameans at ^aAphek until you have ²destroyed them.”

¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and ¹stopped.

¹⁹So ^athe man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have ¹destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram ^bonly three times.”

²⁰Elisha died, and they buried him. Now ^athe bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year.

²¹As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man ¹touched the bones of Elisha he ^arevived and stood up on his feet.

²²Now ^aHazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³But the ^aLord was gracious to them and ^bhad compassion on them and turned to them because of ^cHis covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.

²⁴When Hazael king of Aram died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

²⁵Then ^aJehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz his father. ^bThree times Joash ¹defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.