2 Kings 8

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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The Shunammite woman’s land restored

¹Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Get up and go away with your household, and stay wherever you can find a place to stay, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come on the land for seven years.” ²So the woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She went with her household and stayed 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, and she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. ⁴Now the king was speaking with Gehazi, the man of God’s servant, and said, “Please tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵Just as he was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead boy back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came in, appealing to the king for her house and her land. Gehazi said, “My lord the king, here is the woman, and here is the son Elisha brought back to life!” ⁶The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then the king assigned an official to her case, with the order, “Give back everything that belonged to her, and all the produce of her field from the day she left the land until now.”

Elisha and Hazael

⁷Elisha went to Damascus at a time when Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick. The king was told, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Ask the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” ⁹So Hazael went to meet him, taking a gift with him, all kinds of fine goods from Damascus, forty camel loads. He came and stood before Elisha and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram sent me to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” ¹⁰Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die.” ¹¹Elisha fixed his gaze on Hazael and kept staring until Hazael was ashamed. Then the man of God wept. ¹²Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites. You will set their fortresses on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.” ¹³Hazael said, “But what is your servant, a mere dog, that he should do such a great thing?” Elisha replied, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Aram.” ¹⁴Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. The king asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He replied, “He told me that you will certainly recover.” ¹⁵But the next day Hazael took the bed cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, and he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Jehoram king of Judah

¹⁶In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. ¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he had married Ahab’s daughter. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁹Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, since he had promised to give him a lamp for his descendants for all time. ²⁰During his reign Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah and set up a king of its own. ²¹So Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. He rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the chariot commanders, and the troops fled to their homes. ²²So Edom has been in rebellion against the rule of Judah to this day. Libnah also rebelled at that same time. ²³The rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. ²⁴Then Joram rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king in his place.

Ahaziah king of Judah

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-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. ²⁷He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to the house of Ahab. ²⁸He went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and Joram was wounded by the Arameans. ²⁹King Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had given him at Ramah, in his battle with Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah then went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was wounded.