7 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow at Samaria’s gate, six quarts^[a] of fine flour will sell for a half ounce of silver^[b] and twelve quarts^[c] of barley will sell for a half ounce of silver.’”^(A)

² Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man,^[d](B) responded to the man of God,^(C) “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” ^(D)

Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”^(E)

³ Now four men with a skin disease^(F) were at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp.^(G) If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

⁵ So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that no one was there, ⁶ for the Lord^[e] had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army.^(H) The Arameans had said to each other, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites^(I) and the kings of Egypt^(J) to attack us.” ⁷ So they had gotten up and fled^(K) at twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.

⁸ When these diseased men came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them. They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them.^{(L) 9} Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news.^(M) If we are silent and wait until morning light, our punishment will catch up with us. So let’s go tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰ The diseased men came and called to the city’s gatekeepers and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—no human sounds. There was nothing but tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.” ¹¹ The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported to the king’s household.

¹² So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving,^(N) so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.’”^(O)

¹³ But one of his servants responded, “Please, let messengers take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate is like the entire Israelite community who will die,^[f] so let’s send them and see.”

¹⁴ The messengers took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp.^(P) It was then that six quarts of fine flour sold for a half ounce of silver and twelve quarts of barley sold for a half ounce of silver, according to the word of the Lord.^{(Q) 17} The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man,^(R) to be in charge of the city gate, but the people trampled him in the gate. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king had come to him. ¹⁸ When the man of God had said to the king, “About this time tomorrow twelve quarts of barley will sell for a half ounce of silver and six quarts of fine flour will sell for a half ounce of silver at Samaria’s gate,” ¹⁹ this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”^{(S) 20} This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the city gate, and he died.

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

8 Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life,^(T) “Get ready, you and your household, and go live as a resident alien wherever you can. For the Lord has announced a seven-year famine,^(U) and it has already come to the land.”

² So the woman got ready and did what the man of God said. She and her household lived as resident aliens in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³ When the woman returned from the land of the Philistines at the end of seven years,^(V) she went to appeal to the king for her house and field.^(W)

⁴ The king had been speaking to Gehazi,^(X) the attendant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things Elisha has done.”

⁵ While he was telling the king how Elisha restored the dead son to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life came to appeal to the king for her house and field. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”^(Y)

⁶ When the king asked the woman, she told him the story. So the king appointed a court official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the income from the field from the day she left the country until now.”

Aram’s King Hazael

⁷ Elisha came to Damascus^(Z) while King Ben-hadad^(AA) of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God^(AB) has come here.” ⁸ So the king said to Hazael,^(AC) “Take a gift^(AD) with you and go meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ^(AE)

⁹ Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift: forty camel-loads of all the finest products of Damascus. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son,^(AF) King Ben-hadad of Aram, has sent me to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

¹⁰ Elisha told him, “Go say to him, ‘You are sure to^[g] recover.’ But the Lord has shown me that he is sure to die.” ¹¹ Then he stared steadily at him until he was ashamed.^(AG)

The man of God wept,^{(AH) 12} and Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?”

He replied, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their children to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women.”^(AI)

¹³ Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog,^(AJ) do such a mighty deed?”

Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”^(AK)

¹⁴ Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

He responded, “He told me you are sure to recover.” ¹⁵ The next day Hazael took a heavy cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.

Judah’s King Jehoram

¹⁶ In the fifth year^(AL) of Israel’s King Joram^(AM) son of Ahab, Jehoram^[h](AN) son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah, replacing his father.^{[i](AO) 17} He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.^{(AP) 18} He walked in 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 Lord’s sight.^{(AQ) 19} For the sake of his servant David, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah, since he had promised to give a lamp^[j](AR) to David and his sons forever.^(AS)

²⁰ During Jehoram’s reign, Edom rebelled against Judah’s control and appointed their own king.^{(AT) 21} So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. Then at night he set out to attack the Edomites who had surrounded him and the chariot commanders, but his troops fled to their tents.^{(AU) 22} So Edom is still in rebellion against Judah’s control today. Libnah^(AV) also rebelled at that time.

²³ The rest of the events of Jehoram’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(AW) 24} Jehoram rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.^(AX)

Judah’s King Ahaziah

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Israel’s King Joram son of Ahab,^(AY) Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.^{(AZ) 26} Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Israel’s King Omri.^{(BA) 27} He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab,^(BB) for his father had married into^[k] the house of Ahab.

²⁸ Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against King Hazael^(BC) of Aram in Ramoth-gilead,^(BD) and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹ So King Joram returned to Jezreel^(BE) to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead^[l] when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael.^(BF) Then Judah’s King Ahaziah son of Jehoram went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab since Joram was ill.

The Altar and Basins

4 He made a bronze altar^(A) 30 feet^[a] long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet^[b] high.

² Then he made the cast metal basin,^[c](B) 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet^[d] high and 45 feet^[e] in circumference. ³ The likeness of oxen^[f] was below it, completely encircling it, ten every half yard,^[g] completely surrounding the basin. The oxen were cast in two rows when the basin was cast. ⁴ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The basin was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. ⁵ The basin was three inches^[h] thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or a lily blossom. It could hold eleven thousand gallons.^[i]

⁶ He made ten basins for washing and he put five on the right and five on the left.^(C) The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them,^(D) but the basin was used by the priests for washing.

The Lampstands, Tables, and Courts

⁷ He made the ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and put them in the sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left.^{(E) 8} He made ten tables and placed them in the sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left.^(F) He also made a hundred gold bowls.

⁹ He made the courtyard^(G) of the priests and the large court, and doors for the court. He overlaid the doors with bronze. ¹⁰ He put the basin on the right side, toward the southeast.^{(H) 11} Then Huram^[j](I) made^(J) the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.

Completion of the Bronze Furnishings

So Huram finished doing the work that he was doing for King Solomon in God’s temple: ¹² two pillars; the bowls and the capitals on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars; ¹³ the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars^(K)). ¹⁴ He also made the water carts^[k](L) and the basins on the water carts. ¹⁵ The one basin and the twelve oxen underneath it, ¹⁶ the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all their utensils—Huram-abi^[l](M) made them for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple. All these were made of polished bronze. ¹⁷ The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸ Solomon made all these utensils in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

¹⁹ Solomon also made all the equipment in God’s temple: the gold altar; the tables on which to put the Bread of the Presence;^{(N) 20} the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold to burn in front of the inner sanctuary according to specifications;^{(O) 21} the flowers, lamps, and gold tongs—of purest gold; ²² the wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles,^[m] and firepans—of purest gold; and the entryway to the temple, its inner doors to the most holy place, and the doors of the temple sanctuary—of gold.

5 So all the work Solomon did for the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and all the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of God’s temple.

Preparations for the Temple Dedication

² At that time^(P) Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites—in order to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the city of David,^(Q) that is, Zion. ³ So all the men of Israel were assembled in the king’s presence at the festival; this was in the seventh month.^[n]

⁴ All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark. ⁵ They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who had gathered around him were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many. ⁷ The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.^{(R) 8} And the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim formed a cover above the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place^[o](S) in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside; they are still there today. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put in it at Horeb,^[p](T) where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ Now all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions.^(U) When the priests came out of the holy place, ¹² the Levitical singers dressed in fine linen and carrying cymbals, harps, and lyres^(V) were standing east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing trumpets.^(W) The Levitical singers were descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun and their sons^(X) and relatives. ¹³ The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They raised their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments,^(Y) in praise to the Lord:

The temple, the Lord’s temple, was filled with a cloud.^{(AA) 14} And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled God’s temple.^(AB)