Jehoram Restores the Shunammite’s Land

8 Now ^(A)Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go ^[a]with your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn; for the ^(B)Lord has called for a famine, and ^(C)it will even come on the land for seven years.” ² So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³ At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went out to ^[b]appeal to the king for her house and for her field. ⁴ Now the king was talking with ^(D)Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ As he was relating to the king ^(E)how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life ^[c]appealed to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ When the king asked the woman, she related it to him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”

Elisha Predicts Evil from Hazael

⁷ Then Elisha came to ^(F)Damascus. Now ^(G)Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told him, saying, “^(H)The man of God has come here.” ⁸ The king said to ^(I)Hazael, “^(J)Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and ^(K)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, “^(L)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, “^(M)Go, say to him, ‘You will surely recover,’ but the ^(N)Lord has shown me that he will certainly die.” ¹¹ He ^[d]fixed his gaze steadily on him ^(O)until he was ashamed, and ^(P)the man of God wept. ¹² Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he ^[e]answered, “Because ^(Q)I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you ^(R)will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.” ¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, ^(S)who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha ^[f]answered, “^(T)The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ So he departed from Elisha and returned to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he ^[g]answered, “He told me that ^(U)you would surely recover.” ¹⁵ On the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, ^(V)so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Another Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶ Now in the fifth year of ^(W)Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. ¹⁷ He was ^(X)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 ^(Y)the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹ However, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, ^(Z)since He had ^[h]promised him to give a ^[i]lamp to him through his sons always.

²⁰ In his days ^(AA)Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ²¹ Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; ^(AB)but his ^[j]army fled to their tents. ^22 (AC)So Edom revolted ^[k]against Judah to this day. Then ^(AD)Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³ The rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram in Judah

²⁴ So Joram slept with his fathers and ^(AE)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and ^(AF)Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

^25 (AG)In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. ^26 (AH)Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ^27 (AI)He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸ Then he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against ^(AJ)Hazael king of Aram at ^(AK)Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans ^[l]wounded Joram. ²⁹ So ^(AL)King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had ^[m]inflicted on him at ^(AM)Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then ^(AN)Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 ^(A)He began to teach again ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but ^(F)those who are outside get everything ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

Explanation

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”