2 Kings 13:10–25

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, ⁶Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.

^12mNow the rest of the acts of Joash, ⁿall that he did, and ^ohis 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 ^prested ⁷with his fathers. Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, ^qthe chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”

¹⁵And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at ^rAphek till you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! ^sBut now you will strike Syria only three times.”

²⁰Then Elisha ⁸died, and they buried him. And the ^traiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. ²¹So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Israel Recaptures Cities from Syria

²²And ^uHazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But the Lord was ^vgracious to them, had compassion on them, and ^wregarded them, ^xbecause of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.

²⁴Now Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. ²⁵And ⁹Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. ^yThree times Joash defeated him and recaptured the cities of Israel.