2 Kings 7–9

7Elisha said, “Listen to the Lord’s word. This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow seven quarts of fine flour will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver. This will happen at the gate of Samaria.’ ”

²Then the officer who was close to the king answered Elisha, “Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn’t happen.”

Elisha said, “You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

³There were four men with a skin disease at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why do we sit here until we die? ⁴There is no food in the city. So if we go into the city, we will die there. If we stay here, we will die. So let’s go to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we die.”

⁵So they got up at twilight and went to the Aramean camp, but when they arrived, no one was there. ⁶The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. They had said to each other, “The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” ⁷So they got up and ran away in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp standing and ran for their lives.

⁸When the men with the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into one of the tents and ate and drank. They carried silver, gold, and clothes out of the camp and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent. They carried things from this tent and hid them, also. ⁹Then they said to each other, “We’re doing wrong. Today we have good news, but we are silent. If we wait until the sun comes up, we’ll be discovered. Let’s go right now and tell the people in the king’s palace.”

¹⁰So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They said, “We went to the Aramean camp, but no one is there; we didn’t hear anyone. The horses and donkeys were still tied up, and the tents were still standing.” ¹¹Then the gatekeepers shouted out and told the people in the palace.

¹²The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I’ll tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we are starving. They have gone out of the camp to hide in the field. They’re saying, ‘When the Israelites come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive. Then we’ll enter the city.’ ”

¹³One of his officers answered, “Let some men take five of the horses that are still left in the city. These men are like all the Israelites who are left; they are also about to die. Let’s send them to see what has happened.”

¹⁴So the men took two chariots with horses. The king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see what has happened.” ¹⁵The men followed the Aramean army as far as the Jordan River. The road was full of clothes and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away as they had hurriedly left. So the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶Then the people went out and took valuables from the Aramean camp. So seven quarts of fine flour were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, just as the Lord had said.

¹⁷The king chose the officer who was close to him to guard the gate, but the people trampled the officer to death. This happened just as Elisha had told the king when the king came to his house. ¹⁸He had said, “Thirteen quarts of barley and seven quarts of fine flour will each sell for two-fifths of an ounce of silver about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹But the officer had answered, “Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn’t happen.” And Elisha had told him, “You will see it with your eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.” ²⁰It happened to the officer just that way. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

The Shunammite Regains Her Land

8Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He said, “Get up and go with your family. Stay any place you can, because the Lord has called for a time without food that will last seven years.” ²So the woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She left with her family, and they stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³After seven years she returned from the land of the Philistines and went to beg the king for her house and land. ⁴The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had said, “Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought a dead boy back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came and begged the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “My master and king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha brought back to life.”

⁶The king asked the woman, and she told him about it. Then the king chose an officer to help her. “Give the woman everything that is hers,” the king said. “Give her all the money made from her land from the day she left until now.”

Ben-Hadad Is Killed

⁷Then Elisha went to Damascus, where Ben-Hadad king of Aram was sick. Someone told him, “The man of God has arrived.”

⁸The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go meet him. Ask the Lord through him if I will recover from my sickness.”

⁹So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camels loaded with every good thing in Damascus. He came and stood before Elisha and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram sent me to you. He asks if he will recover from his sickness.”

¹⁰Elisha said to Hazael, “Go and tell Ben-Hadad, ‘You will surely recover,’ but the Lord has told me he will really die.” ¹¹Hazael stared at Elisha until he felt ashamed. Then Elisha cried.

¹²Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, master?”

Elisha answered, “Because I know what evil you will do to the Israelites. You will burn their strong, walled cities with fire and kill their young men with swords. You will throw their babies to the ground and split open their pregnant women.”

¹³Hazael said, “Am I a dog? How could I do such things?”

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

¹⁴Then Hazael left Elisha and came to his master. Ben-Hadad said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

Hazael answered, “He told me that you will surely recover.” ¹⁵But the next day Hazael took a blanket and dipped it in water. Then he put it over Ben-Hadad’s face, and he died. So Hazael became king in Ben-Hadad’s place.

Jehoram King of Judah

¹⁶While Jehoshaphat was king in Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah. This was during the fifth year Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel. ¹⁷Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to rule, and he ruled eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the family of Ahab had done, because he married Ahab’s daughter. Jehoram did what the Lord said was wrong. ¹⁹But the Lord would not destroy Judah because of his servant David. The Lord had promised that one of David’s descendants would always rule.

²⁰In Jehoram’s time Edom broke away from Judah’s rule and chose their own king. ²¹So Jehoram and all his chariots went to Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders. Jehoram got up and attacked the Edomites at night, but his army ran away to their tents. ²²From then until now the country of Edom has fought against the rule of Judah. At the same time Libnah also broke away from Judah’s rule.

²³The other acts of Jehoram and all the things he did are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²⁴Jehoram died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, and Jehoram’s son Ahaziah ruled in his place.

²⁵Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah during the twelfth year Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab’s family. He did what the Lord said was wrong, as Ahab’s family had done, because he was a son-in-law to Ahab.

²⁸Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to Ramoth in Gilead, where they fought against Hazael king of Aram. The Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel to heal from the wound he had received from the Arameans at Ramoth when he fought Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he had been wounded.

Jehu Is Chosen King

9At the same time, Elisha the prophet called a man from the groups of prophets. Elisha said, “Get ready, and take this small bottle of olive oil in your hand. Go to Ramoth in Gilead. ²When you arrive, find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and make Jehu get up from among his brothers, and take him to an inner room. ³Then take the bottle and pour the oil on Jehu’s head and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have appointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run away. Don’t wait!”

⁴So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth in Gilead. ⁵When he arrived, he saw the officers of the army sitting together. He said, “Commander, I have a message for you.”

Jehu asked, “For which one of us?”

The young man said, “For you, commander.”

⁶Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the olive oil on Jehu’s head and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I have appointed you king over the Lord’s people Israel. ⁷You must destroy the family of Ahab your master. I will punish Jezebel for the deaths of my servants the prophets and for all the Lord’s servants who were murdered. ⁸All of Ahab’s family must die. I will not let any male child in Ahab’s family live in Israel, whether slave or free. ⁹I will make Ahab’s family like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰The dogs will eat Jezebel at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’ ”

Then the young…