Elisha Promises Food

7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, ‘Tomorrow about this time a ^[a]measure of finely-milled flour will sell for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’” ² Then the royal officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven [for the rain], could this thing take place?” Elisha said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but [because you doubt] you will not eat of it.”

Four Lepers Relate Arameans’ Flight

³ Now four men who were ^[b]lepers were at the entrance of the [city’s] gate; and they said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city’—then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit still here, we will also die. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians). If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” ⁵ So they got up at twilight to go to the Aramean camp. But when they came to the edge of the camp, there was no one there. ⁶ For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They had said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come [and fight] against us.” ⁷ So the Arameans set out and fled during the twilight, and left their tents, horses, and donkeys, even left the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. ⁸ When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried away from there silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they went back and entered another tent and carried [some valuable things] from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said one to another, “We are not doing the right thing. This is a day of good news, yet we are keeping silent. If we wait until the morning light, some punishment [for not reporting this now] will come on us. So now come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, “We went to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians), and behold, there was no one there, nor the sound of man there—only the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents [had been left] just as they were.” ¹¹ Then the gatekeepers called out and it was reported to the king’s household inside [the city]. ¹² Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³ One of his servants replied, “Please let some men take five of the horses which remain inside the city. Consider this: [if they are caught then at worst] they will be like all the people of Israel who are left in the city; [even if they are killed then] they will be like all the people of Israel who have already died. So let us send [them] and see [what happens].” ¹⁴ So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan, and all the road was entirely littered with clothing and equipment which the Arameans (Syrians) had thrown away when they hurriedly fled. And the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ Then the people [of Israel] went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So [goods were so plentiful that] a measure of finely-milled flour [was sold] for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in accordance with the word of the Lord [as spoken through Elisha].^{(A) 17} Now the king had appointed the royal officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the [city] gate; and the [starving] people trampled him at the gate [as they struggled to get through for food], and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ It happened just as [Elisha] the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley will be sold for a shekel and a measure of finely-milled flour for a shekel tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ The royal officer had answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, [even] if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And Elisha had answered, “You will see it with your own eyes, but [because of your doubt] you will not eat it.”^{(B) 20} And so it happened to him; for the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.

The King Restores the Shunammite’s Land

8 Now Elisha had said to the [Shunammite] woman whose son he had restored to life, “Prepare and go, you and your household, and ^[c]stay temporarily wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and moreover, it will come on the land [and continue] for seven years.” ² So the woman set out and did everything in accordance with the word of the man of God. She and her household went and ^[d]stayed temporarily as foreigners in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³ At the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to appeal to the king [of Israel] for her house and for her land. ⁴ Now the king was talking with ^[e]Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ And [just] as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed 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 When the king asked the woman, she told him [everything]. So the king appointed for her a certain high official, saying, “Restore everything that was hers, including all the produce of the field since the day that she left the land until now.”

Elisha Predicts Evil from Hazael

⁷ Now Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) was sick; and he was told, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸ And the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” ⁹ So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a gift with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and 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 Elisha stared steadily at Hazael until he was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept. ¹² Hazael said, “Why are you weeping, my lord?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons (descendants) of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.” ¹³ Then Hazael said, “Surely not! For what is your servant, who is nothing more than a dog, that he would do this monstrous thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ Then Hazael departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵ But the next day Hazael took the bedspread and dipped it in water and covered the king’s face, so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Another Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶ Now in the fifth year of ^[f]Joram (Jehoram) the son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for [Athaliah] the daughter of Ahab became his wife. He did ^[g]evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹ Yet for the sake of His servant David the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, since He had promised to give him a lamp (enthroned descendant) through his sons always.

²⁰ In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king over themselves. ²¹ So Jehoram [king of Judah] went over to Zair [in Edom] with all his chariots. He set out by night and struck down the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of his chariots; but the people [of his army] fled to their tents. ²² So Edom revolted ^[h]against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³ The rest of the acts of Jehoram 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 Jehoram slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with them in the City of David. Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

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

²⁸ Ahaziah went with Joram the son of Ahab to battle against Hazael king of Aram (Syria) in Ramoth-gilead; and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹ King Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed 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 sick.