2 Kings 8:7-15

Evangelical Heritage Version

Hazael Assassinates Ben Hadad

⁷ Elisha went to Damascus while Ben Hadad the king of Aram was sick. The king was told, “The man of God has come here.”

⁸ So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift and go to meet the man of God. You will inquire of the Lord through him, asking whether I will survive this sickness.”

⁹ Hazael went to meet him. He took a gift of forty camel loads of all the goods of Damascus, and he came and stood before Elisha and said, “Your son, Ben Hadad, king of Aram, sent me to you to say, ‘Will I survive this sickness?’”

¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly survive,’ but the Lord has shown me that he will really die.” ¹¹ Then Elisha stared straight at him until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God wept.

¹² Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?”

Then he said, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set fire to their fortified cities. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their children to pieces, and you will rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, a mere dog, that he could do such a great thing?”

Then Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

¹⁴ Hazael then left Elisha and went to his master, and the king said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

He said, “He told me that you will certainly survive.”

¹⁵ But the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king’s face so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.