2 Kings 8

1 And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He said, “Get up and go, you and your household, and live as a stranger wherever you can find to live; for the Lord has called for a famine on the land, and it has already come on the land — seven years.” [a] 2 And the woman got up and did according to the word of Elisha. She went, she and her household, and lived as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for seven years. [b] 3 And when the seven years came to an end, the woman came back out of the land of the Philistines to the city, and she came to cry out to the king about her house and about her fields.

4 And the king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God. He said, “Tell me, please, all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had brought a dead son back to life, there was the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life, crying out to the king about her house and about her fields. And Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha brought back to life.” 6 And the king questioned the woman, and she told him. And the king gave her one of his eunuchs and said, “Give back everything that is hers, and all the produce of her field, from the day she left the land until now.”

7 And Elisha came to Damascus. The son of Hadad, king of Aram, was ill, and they brought him word: “The man of God has come as far as here.” [c] 8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and seek out the Lord through him. Say, ‘Will I live through this illness of mine?’” [e] 9 And Hazael went to meet him. He took a gift in his hand, and all the good things of Damascus, as much as forty camels could carry, and he came and stood before him and said to Elisha, “Your son, the son of Hadad king of Aram, has sent me to you to ask, ‘Will I live through this illness of mine?’” 10 And Elisha said, “Go, say to him, ‘You will certainly live.’ And the Lord has shown me that you will certainly die.” [f]

11 And he stood before him and set his face and held it until it became shameful; and the man of God wept. [g] 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” And he said, “Because I know all the evil you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their chosen men with the sword, and you will dash their little ones, and you will rip open their pregnant women.” [h] 13 And Hazael said, “What is your slave, a dead dog, that he should do a thing like this?” And Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me you reigning over Aram.”

14 And he went away from Elisha and came in to his lord, and his lord said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He said to me, ‘You will certainly live.’” 15 And the next day he took the thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, and he died. And Hazael reigned in his place. [i]

16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Joram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. [j] 17 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife; and he did what was evil before the Lord. 19 But the Lord was not willing to wipe out Judah, for the sake of David his slave, since he had said he would give him a lamp, and his sons, for all their days.

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they made a king over themselves. 21 And Joram went up to Sior, and all the chariots with him. And when he had risen, he struck Edom, which had surrounded him, and the commanders of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. [k] 22 Yet Edom stayed in revolt from under the hand of Judah to this day. Libnah also revolted at that time.

23 And the rest of the acts of Joram, and everything he did — look, are they not written in the book of the daily record of the kings of Judah? [l] 24 And Joram rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. [m]

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Joram began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel. [n] 27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil before the Lord, as the house of Ahab did.

28 And he went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of the Philistines at Ramoth-gilead; and the Arameans wounded Joram. [o] 29 And King Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the blows they had struck him with at Ramoth, when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Ahaziah son of Joram went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was ill.