2 Kings 8
New American Standard Bible
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 live wherever you can live; for the (B)Lord has called for a famine, and (C)it will indeed come on the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and acted in accordance with the word of the man of God: she went with her household and resided in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 Then at the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to [b]appeal to the king for her house and for her field. 4 Now the king was speaking with (D)Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please report to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And as he was reporting 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 the king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 When the king asked the woman, she told everything to him. So the king appointed an officer for her, 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, the king of Aram, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “(H)The man of God has come here.” 8 And 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 certainly recover’; but the (N)Lord has shown me that he will certainly die.” 11 And he [d]stared steadily at him (O)until Hazael was embarrassed, and then (P)the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” And he [e]answered, “Because (Q)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 (R)will smash to pieces, and you will rip up their pregnant women.” 13 Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant—(S)a lowly dog—that he could do this great thing?” And Elisha [f]answered, “(T)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 [g]answered, “He told me that (U)you would certainly recover.” 15 But on the following day, he took the [h]cover and dipped it in water, and spread it over 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, when Jehoshaphat was 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 for 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)Ahab’s daughter was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. 19 However, the Lord did not want to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, (Z)since He had [i]promised him to give him a [j]lamp through his sons always.
20 In his days (AA)Edom broke away from the [k]rule of Judah, and appointed a king over themselves. 21 Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he got up at night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; (AB)but [l]his army fled to their tents. 22 (AC)So Edom has broken away from [m]Judah to this day. Then (AD)Libnah broke away at the same time. 23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram and everything 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 [n]lay down with his fathers and (AE)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son (AF)Ahaziah 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 for 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, 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 [o]wounded Joram. 29 So (AL)King Joram returned to have himself healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had [p]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.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 8:1 Lit you and your
- 2 Kings 8:3 Lit cry out
- 2 Kings 8:5 Lit cried out
- 2 Kings 8:11 Lit made his face stand fast and he set
- 2 Kings 8:12 Lit said
- 2 Kings 8:13 Lit said
- 2 Kings 8:14 Lit said
- 2 Kings 8:15 I.e., item of woven material
- 2 Kings 8:19 Lit said to him
- 2 Kings 8:19 I.e., descendant on the throne
- 2 Kings 8:20 Lit hand
- 2 Kings 8:21 Lit the people
- 2 Kings 8:22 Lit under the hand of
- 2 Kings 8:24 I.e., died
- 2 Kings 8:28 Lit struck
- 2 Kings 8:29 Lit struck
2 Kings 8
King James Version
8 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.
4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither.
8 And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
10 And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die.
11 And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept.
12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
13 And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
14 So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou shouldest surely recover.
15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.
16 And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Je hoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.
17 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.
20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.
21 So Joram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents.
22 Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
23 And 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?
24 And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.
26 Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.
28 And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
29 And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
2 Kings 8
Living Bible
8 Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take your family and move to some other country, for the Lord has called down a famine on Israel that will last for seven years.”
2 So the woman took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 After the famine ended, she returned to the land of Israel and went to see the king about getting back her house and land. 4 Just as she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, and saying, “Tell me some stories of the great things Elisha has done.” 5 And Gehazi was telling the king about the time when Elisha brought a little boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in!
“Oh, sir!” Gehazi exclaimed. “Here is the woman now, and this is her son—the very one Elisha brought back to life!”
6 “Is this true?” the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had owned was restored to her, plus the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.
7 Afterwards Elisha went to Damascus (the capital of Syria), where King Ben-hadad lay sick. Someone told the king that the prophet had come.
8-9 When the king heard the news, he said to Hazael, “Take a present to the man of God and tell him to ask the Lord whether I will get well again.”
So Hazael took forty camel-loads of the best produce of the land as presents for Elisha and said to him, “Your son Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, has sent me to ask you whether he will recover.”
10 And Elisha replied, “Tell him, ‘Yes.’ But the Lord has shown me that he will surely die!”
11 Elisha stared at Hazael until he became embarrassed, and then Elisha started crying.
12 “What’s the matter, sir?” Hazael asked him.
Elisha replied, “I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel: you will burn their forts, kill the young men, dash their babies against the rocks, and rip open the bellies of the pregnant women!”
13 “Am I a dog?” Hazael asked him. “I would never do that sort of thing.”
But Elisha replied, “The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king of Syria.”
14 When Hazael went back, the king asked him, “What did he tell you?”
And Hazael replied, “He told me that you would recover.”
15 But the next day Hazael took a blanket and dipped it in water and held it over the king’s face until he smothered to death. And Hazael became king instead.
16 King Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, began his reign during the fifth year of the reign of King Joram of Israel, the son of Ahab. 17 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. 18 But he was as wicked as Ahab and the other kings of Israel; he even married one of Ahab’s daughters. 19 Nevertheless, because God had promised his servant David that he would watch over and guide his descendants, he did not destroy Judah.
20 During Jehoram’s reign, the people in Edom revolted from Judah and appointed their own king. 21 King Jehoram[a] tried unsuccessfully to crush the rebellion: he crossed the Jordan River and attacked the city of Zair, but was quickly surrounded by the army of Edom. Under cover of night he broke through their ranks, but his army deserted him and fled. 22 So Edom has maintained its independence to this day. Libnah also rebelled at that time.
23 The rest of the history of King Jehoram is written in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. 24-25 He died and was buried in the royal cemetery in the City of David—the old section of Jerusalem.
Then his son Ahaziah[b] became the new king during the twelfth year of the reign of King Joram of Israel, the son of Ahab. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, but he reigned only one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. 27 He was an evil king, just as all of King Ahab’s descendants were—for he was related to Ahab by marriage.
28 He joined King Joram of Israel (son of Ahab) in his war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth-gilead. King Joram was wounded in the battle, 29 so he went to Jezreel to rest and recover from his wounds. While he was there, King Ahaziah of Judah (son of Jehoram) came to visit him.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 8:21 King Jehoram. Actually, “Joram” (so also in v. 23), a variant spelling of Jehoram.
- 2 Kings 8:24 his son Ahaziah. Ahaziah is an alternate form of the name Jehoahaz.
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