2 Kings 8
1 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Get up and go, you and your household, and live as a foreigner wherever you can, because the LORD has called for a famine, and it is coming upon the land for seven years.”
2 The woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She went with her household and lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
3 When the seven years had passed, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and her field.
4 The king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.”
5 While he was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead man back to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and her field. Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha brought back to life.”
6 The king questioned the woman, and she told him her story. Then the king assigned an official to her and said, “Restore everything that belonged to her, along with all the produce of the field, from the day she left the land until now.”
7 Elisha went to Damascus while Ben-hadad, king of Aram, was sick. The king was told, “The man of God has arrived here.”
8 The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you, go to meet the man of God, and ask the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
9 Hazael went to meet him, carrying a gift: all the finest things Damascus had to offer, a load for forty camels. He came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
10 Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die.”
11 Then he fixed his gaze on him until Hazael felt embarrassed, and the man of God wept.
12 Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites: you will set their strongholds on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash their children to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
13 Hazael said, “But what is your servant, this dog, that he should do such a great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
14 He left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He answered, “He told me, ‘You will certainly recover.’”
15 The next day, he took a cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face, and the king died. Hazael reigned in his place.
16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Judah.
17 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years.
18 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
19 But the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, because of David his servant, as he had promised him—to give him a lamp for his descendants forever.
20 In his days, Edom rebelled against Judah’s rule and set a king over itself.
21 Joram went to Zair with all his chariots. He rose at night and struck Edom, which had surrounded him, and the chariot commanders as well; then the people fled to their tents.
22 So Edom rebelled against Judah’s rule, as it remains to this day. At that same time, Libnah also rebelled.
23 The rest of Joram’s deeds, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
24 Joram lay down with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram began to reign as king of Judah.
26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri, king of Israel.
27 He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for he was related by marriage to Ahab’s family.
28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to fight Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.
29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought Hazael, king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because he was sick.
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