2 Kings 8

8 ¹ Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Get up and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can, for our Father has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years."

² So the woman got up and did as the man of our Father had said. She went with her household and lived 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 out to appeal to the king for her house and her land. ⁴ Now the king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of our Father, and he said, "Tell me all the great things Elisha has done." ⁵ And just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life, the very woman whose son he had restored came appealing to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life."

⁶ The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. So the king assigned her an official, saying, "Restore everything that belonged to her, along with all the produce of her fields from the day she left the land until now."

The Father Reveals Hazael's Rise

⁷ Then Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and he was told, "The man of our Father has come all the way here."

⁸ The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the LORD through him, asking, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

⁹ So Hazael went to meet him, taking with him a gift of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads. He came and stood before Elisha and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

¹⁰ Elisha said to him, "Go and tell him, 'You will surely recover.' But our Father has shown me that he will in fact die." ¹¹ He fixed his gaze and stared at him until Hazael was ashamed. Then the man of our Father wept.

¹² "Why does my lord weep?" Hazael asked. He answered, "Because I know the harm you will do to the people of Israel. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women."

¹³ "But what is your servant, a mere dog, that he should do such a great thing?" Hazael replied. "Our Father has shown me," Elisha said, "that you will become king over Aram."

¹⁴ Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master, who asked him, "What did Elisha say to you?" He replied, "He told me you would surely recover."

¹⁵ But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had married a daughter of Ahab. And he did what was evil in the eyes of our Father. ¹⁹ Yet our Father was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant. He had promised to give a lamp to David and to his sons forever.

Edom and Libnah Rebel

²⁰ In his days Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah and set up its own king. ²¹ So Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. He rose up by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but his army fled to their tents. ²² To this day Edom has been in rebellion against the rule of Judah. Libnah also rebelled at that same time. ²³ As for 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 Then Joram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah 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, granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷ He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of our Father, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to the house of Ahab.

²⁸ He went with Joram son of Ahab to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, where the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹ So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because he was wounded.