2 KingsChapter 8

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¹Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He had said, "Get up and go, you and your family. Go live as a foreigner wherever you can. The LORD has ordered a famine to come on the land. It will last seven years." ²So the woman did what the man of God told her. She and her family went and lived as foreigners in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³At the end of the seven years, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines. She went to the king to ask for her house and her land back. ⁴At that time the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king said, "Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done." ⁵Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought a dead person back to life. Just then, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came in. She came to ask the king for her house and her land. Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this is the woman! And this is her son that Elisha brought back to life." ⁶The king asked the woman about it, and she told him it was true. So the king put an officer in charge of her case. He said, "Give back everything that was hers. Also give her all the crops her field has produced from the day she left the country until now." ⁷Then Elisha went to Damascus. Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick. Someone told the king, "The man of God has come here." ⁸So the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you. Go meet the man of God. Ask the LORD through him, 'Will I get well from this sickness?'" ⁹So Hazael went to meet Elisha. He took a gift with him. It was forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. He went in and stood in front of Elisha. He said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me. He asks, 'Will I get well from this sickness?'" ¹⁰Elisha answered, "Go and tell him, 'You will surely get well.' But the LORD has shown me that he will really die." ¹¹Elisha stared at Hazael without looking away until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to cry. ¹²"Why is my lord crying?" Hazael asked. "Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites," Elisha answered. "You will set their forts on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will smash their little children to pieces. And you will rip open their pregnant women." ¹³Hazael said, "But how could I, your servant, do such a terrible thing? I'm just a dog!" Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram." ¹⁴Then Hazael left Elisha and went back to his master. Ben-hadad asked him, "What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael answered, "He told me you would surely get well." ¹⁵But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth. He dipped it in water and spread it over the king's face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael became king in his place. ¹⁶Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah after his father. This was in the fifth year that Joram son of Ahab ruled over Israel. ¹⁷Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. ¹⁸Jehoram followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the family of Ahab had done. He had married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. ¹⁹But the LORD did not want to destroy Judah. He held back for the sake of his servant David. He had promised to keep a lamp burning for David and his descendants forever. ²⁰While Jehoram was king, Edom rebelled against Judah's rule. They chose their own king. ²¹So Jehoram went over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders. But he got up at night and attacked. His soldiers, however, ran away to their homes. ²²So Edom has been in rebellion against Judah's rule to this day. Libnah also rebelled at the same time. ²³The rest of what Jehoram did, and all he achieved, is written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ²⁴Jehoram died and joined his ancestors. He was buried with them in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king in his place. ²⁵Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. This was in the twelfth year that Joram son of Ahab ruled over Israel. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab's family. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as Ahab's family did. That was because he was related to Ahab's family by marriage. ²⁸Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram went back to Jezreel to heal. He had been wounded by the Arameans at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel. He went to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.