2 Kings 8:1-9:13

Modern English Version

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

8 Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get up and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come on the land for seven years.” ² So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

³ At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to appeal to the king for her house and her field. ⁴ Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ As he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life started appealing to the king for her house and her land.

Gehazi said, “My lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ When the king questioned the woman, she told him.

So the king appointed to her an official, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she abandoned the land until now.”

Ben-Hadad Is Murdered

⁷ Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was ill, and he was told, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸ The king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’ ”

⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, all sorts of good things from Damascus, forty camel loads. He came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’ ”

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

¹² Hazael said, “Why are you weeping, my lord?”

He said, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will smash their children and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ Hazael said, “What? Is your servant a dog that he should do this great thing?”

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

¹⁴ Then he left Elisha and went to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He told me that you would surely recover.” ¹⁵ But the next day he took a blanket, dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehoram, King of Judah^(A)

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹ Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, since He promised to give a lamp to him and his sons perpetually.

²⁰ In his days Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah, and they put a king over themselves. ²¹ So Jehoram crossed over to Zair, all his chariots with him, and he rose at night and struck Edom and the captains of their chariots who had surrounded him. But the people fled to their tents. ²² So Edom has been in rebellion against the rule of Judah until this day. Libnah rebelled at the same time.

²³ The rest of the deeds of Jehoram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁴ So Jehoram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah, King of Judah^(B)

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king. He reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel. ²⁷ He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸ He went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead, and the Arameans struck Joram. ²⁹ King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram.

And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was ill.

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

9 Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, “Prepare yourself. Take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you get there, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and make him rise from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner chamber. ³ Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee. Do not wait.”

⁴ So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ When he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting, and he said, “I have a word for you, Commander.”

Jehu said, “Which one of us?”

And he said, “For you, Commander.”

⁶ So he arose, went into the house, poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: I am anointing you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. ⁷ You will strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both imprisoned and free. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ Dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ When Jehu had returned to his master’s servants, one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?”

And he said to them, “You know this man and his babble.”

¹² They said, “A lie! Tell us.”

Then he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: I am anointing you king over Israel.’ ”

¹³ Then they hurried. Each took his clothes, put them under him on the bare stairs, and blew a horn, saying, “Jehu is king.”