Elisha Predicts Evil from Hazael

⁷ Then Elisha came to ^(A)Damascus. Now ^(B)Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “^(C)The man of God has come here.” ⁸ And the king said to ^(D)Hazael, “^(E)Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and ^(F)inquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “^(G)Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “^(H)Go, say to him, ‘You will certainly recover’; but the ^(I)Lord has shown me that he will certainly die.” ¹¹ And he ^[a]stared steadily at him ^(J)until Hazael was embarrassed, and then ^(K)the man of God wept. ¹² And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” And he ^[b]answered, “Because ^(L)I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: you will set their fortified cities on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, their little ones you ^(M)will smash to pieces, and you will rip up their pregnant women.” ¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant—^(N)a lowly dog—that he could do this great thing?” And Elisha ^[c]answered, “^(O)The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ So he left Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he ^[d]answered, “He told me that ^(P)you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵ But on the following day, he took the ^[e]cover and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, ^(Q)so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.