2 Kings 8:9–29

⁹So ^jHazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ”

¹⁰And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the Lord has shown me that ^khe will really die.” ¹¹Then he ¹set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God ^lwept. ¹²And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?”

He answered, “Because I know ^mthe evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you ⁿwill dash their children, and rip open their women with child.”

¹³So Hazael said, “But what ^ois your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?”

And Elisha answered, ^p“The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria.”

¹⁴Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would surely recover.” ¹⁵But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶Now ^qin the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, ^rJehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as ²king of Judah. ¹⁷He was ^sthirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for ^tthe daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, ^uas He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

²⁰In his days ^vEdom revolted against Judah’s authority, ^wand made a king over themselves. ²¹So ³Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. ²²Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. ^xAnd Libnah revolted at that time.

²³Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁴So Joram ⁴rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then ^yAhaziah ⁵his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. ²⁶Ahaziah was ^ztwenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. ^27aAnd he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸Now he went ^bwith Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at ^cRamoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. ²⁹Then ^dKing Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him at ⁶Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. ^eAnd Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.