THE LORD'S Judgment on Ahaziah

   After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury."

       But the angel of THE LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no GOD in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Therefore this is what THE LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!' " So Elijah went.

       When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have you come back?"

       "A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what THE LORD says: Is it because there is no GOD in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!" ' "

       The king asked them, "What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?"

       They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist."

       The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."

       Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of GOD, the king says, 'Come down!' "

       Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of GOD, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

       At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of GOD, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' "

       "If I am a man of GOD," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of GOD fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

       So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of GOD," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"

      The angel of THE LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

       He told the king, "This is what THE LORD says: Is it because there is no GOD in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!" So he died, according to the word of THE LORD that Elijah had spoken.

       Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. As for all the other events of Ahaziah's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 1

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

   When THE LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; THE LORD has sent me to Bethel."

       But Elisha said, "As surely as THE LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

       The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that THE LORD is going to take your master from you today?"

       "Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."

       Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; THE LORD has sent me to Jericho."

       And he replied, "As surely as THE LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.

       The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that THE LORD is going to take your master from you today?"

       "Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."

       Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; THE LORD has sent me to the Jordan."

       And he replied, "As surely as THE LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.

       Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

       When they had crossed, Elijah sad to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"

       "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.

       "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours--otherwise not."

       As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

       He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is THE LORD, THE GOD OF ELIJAH?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

       The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. "Look," they said, "we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley."

       "No," Elisha replied, "do not send them."

       But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, "Send them." And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 2, verses 1 - 18

Healing of the Water

       The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."

       "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

       Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what THE LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' " And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 2, verses 19 - 22

Elisha Is Jeered

       From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of THE LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 2, verses 23 - 25

Moab Revolts

       Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. He did evil in the eyes of THE LORD, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

       Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to supply the king of Israel with a hundred thousand lambs and with the wool of a hundred thousand rams. But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?"

       "I will go with you," he replied. "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

       "By what route shall we attack?" he asked.

       "Through the Desert of Edom," he answered.

       So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.

       "What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has THE LORD called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?"

       But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of THE LORD here, that we may inquire of THE LORD through him?"

       An officer of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah."

       Jehoshaphat said, "The word of THE LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

       Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother."

       "No," the king of Israel answered, "because it was THE LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab."

       Elisha said, "As surely as THE LORD ALMIGHTY lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. But now bring me a harpist."

       While the harpist was playing, the hand of THE LORD came upon Elisha and he said, "This is what THE LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what THE LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of THE LORD; HE will also hand Moab over to you. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones."

       The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was--water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

       Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red--like blood. "That's blood!" they said. "Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!"

       But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.

       When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 3

The Widow's Oil

   The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered THE LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."

       Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"

       "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."

       Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

       She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."

       But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

       She went and told the man of GOD, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 4, verses 1 - 7

The Shunammite's Son Restored to Life

       One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of GOD. Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."

       One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' "

       She replied, "I have a home among my own people."

       "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.

       Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."

       Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."

       "No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of GOD!"

       But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

       The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head!" he said to his father.

       His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of GOD, then shut the door and went out.

       She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of GOD quickly and return."

       "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."

       "It's all right," she said.

       She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." So she set out and came to the man of GOD at Mount Carmel.

       When he saw her in the distance, the man of GOD said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' "

       "Everything is all right," she said.

       When she reached the man of GOD at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of GOD said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but THE LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."

       "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"

       Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."

       But the child's mother said, "As surely as THE LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.

       Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."

       When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to THE LORD. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

       Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 4, verses 8 - 37

Death in the Pot

       Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."

       One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, "O man of GOD, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.

       Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat." And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 4, verses 38 - 41

Feeding of a Hundred

       A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of GOD twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said.

       "How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked.

       But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat. For this is what THE LORD says: 'They will eat and have some left over.' " Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of THE LORD.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 4, verses 42 - 44

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

   Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him THE LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

       Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

       Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

       As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I GOD? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

       When Elisha the man of GOD heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

       But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of THE LORD his GOD, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

       Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of GOD had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

       Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of GOD. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no GOD in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."

       The prophet answered, "As surely as THE LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

       "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but THE LORD. But may THE LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may THE LORD forgive your servant for this."

       "Go in peace," Elisha said.

       After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of GOD, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as THE LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him."

       So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

       "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.' "

       "By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left. Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha.

       "Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked.

       "Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.

       But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 5

An Axhead Floats

   The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."

       And he said, "Go."

       Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"

       "I will," Elisha replied. And he went with them.

       They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

       The man of GOD asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 6, verses 1 - 7

Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans

       Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."

      The man of GOD sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of GOD. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

       This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"

       "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

       "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

       When the servant of the man of GOD got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.

       "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

       And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then THE LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

       As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to THE LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

       Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.

       After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then THE LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

       When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"

       "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 6, verses 8 - 23

Famine in Besieged Samaria

       Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.

       As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"

       The king replied, "If THE LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" Then he asked her, "What's the matter?"

       She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."

       When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body. He said, "May GOD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"

       Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"

       While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, "This disaster is from THE LORD. Why should I wait for THE LORD any longer?"

       Elisha said, "Hear the word of THE LORD. This is what THE LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

       The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of GOD, "Look, even if THE LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?"

       "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 6, verses 24 - 33 & chapter 7, verses 1 & 2

The Siege Lifted

       Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? If we say, 'We'll go into the city'--the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."

       At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for THE LORD had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

       The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

       Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace."

       So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there--not a sound of anyone--only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were." The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

       The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, 'They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.' "

       One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here--yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened."

       So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened." They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as THE LORD had said.

       Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of GOD had foretold when the king came down to his house. It happened as the man of GOD had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

       The officer had said to the man of GOD, "Look, even if THE LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The man of GOD had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!" And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 7, verses 3 - 20

The Shunammite's Land Restored

   Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because THE LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." The woman proceeded to do as the man of GOD said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

       At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of GOD, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.

       Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

       Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 8, verses 1 - 6

Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

       Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, "The man of GOD has come all the way up here," he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of GOD. Consult THE LORD through him; ask HIM, 'Will I recover from this illness?' "

       Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?' "

       Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, 'You will certainly recover'; but THE LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die." He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of GOD began to weep.

       "Why is my lord weeping?" asked Hazael.

       "Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites," he answered. "You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women."

       Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?"

       "THE LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha.

       Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, "What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael replied, "He told me that you would certainly recover." But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 8, verses 7 - 15

Jehoram King of Judah

       In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of THE LORD. Nevertheless, for the sake of HIS servant David, THE LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. HE had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

       In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home. To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time.

       As for the other events of Jehoram's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 8, verses 16 - 24

Ahaziah King of Judah

       In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, a grand-daughter of Omri king of Israel. He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of THE LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab's family.

       Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; so King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

       Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab, because he had been wounded.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 8, verses 25 - 29

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

       The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, 'This is what THE LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!"

       So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said.

       "For which of us?" asked Jehu.

       "For you, commander," he replied.

       Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, says: 'I anoint you king over THE LORD'S people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of MY servants the prophets and the blood of all THE LORD'S servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.' " Then he opened the door and ran.

       When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?"

       "You know the man and the sort of things he says," Jehu replied.

       "That's not true!" they said. "Tell us."

       Jehu said, "Here is what he told me: 'This is what THE LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' "

       They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!"

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 9, verses 1 - 13

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

       So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, "If this is the way you feel, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel." Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

       When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, he called out, "I see some troops coming."

       "Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, 'Do you come in peace?' "

       The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the king says: 'Do you come in peace?' "

       "What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me."

       The lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming back."

       So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, "This is what the king says: 'Do you come in peace?' "

       Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."

       The lookout reported, "He has reached them, but he isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi--he drives like a madman."

       "Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?"

       "How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"

       Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

       Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when THE LORD made this prophecy about him: 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares THE LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares THE LORD.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of THE LORD."

       When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, "Kill him too!" They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there. His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David. (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 9, verses 14 - 29

Jezebel Killed

       Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"

       He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

       Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of THE LORD that HE spoke through HIS servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.' "

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 9, verses 30 - 37

Ahab's Family Killed

       Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons, choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then fight for your master's house."

       But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?"

       So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best."

       Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow."

       Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes."

       Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."

       The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Know then, that not a word THE LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. THE LORD has done what HE promised through HIS servant Elijah." So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.

       Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?"

       They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother."

       "Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked--forty-two men. He left no survivor.

       After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Recab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, "Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?"

       "I am," Jehonadab answered.

       "If so," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for THE LORD." Then he had him ride along in his chariot.

       When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of THE LORD spoken to Elijah.

The Book of 2 Kings: chapter 10, verses 1 - 17