2 Kings 8–9

2 Kings 8–9 WEB

^8:1Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years.” ²The woman arose, and did according to the man of God’s word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land. ⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵As he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life begged the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to 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.” ⁷Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. He was told, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸The king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ⁹So 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, “Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ¹⁰Elisha said to him, “Go, tell him, ‘You will surely recover;’ however the LORD has shown me that he will surely die.” ¹¹He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept. ¹²Hazael said, “Why do you weep, my lord?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.” ¹³Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Syria.” ¹⁴Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.” ¹⁵On the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael reigned in his place. ¹⁶In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah then, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did Ahab’s house, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. ¹⁹However, the LORD would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always. ²⁰In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ²¹Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him with the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. ²²So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁴Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. ²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷He walked in the way of Ahab’s house and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for he was the son-in-law of Ahab’s house. ²⁸He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. ²⁹King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel from the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

^9:1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. ²When you come there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers, and take him to an inner room. ³Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘The LORD says, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait.” ⁴So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, “I have a message for you, captain.” Jehu said, “To which one of us?” He said, “To you, O captain.” ⁶He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. ⁷You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸For the whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. ⁹I will make Ahab’s house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be no one to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled. ¹¹When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.” ¹²They said, “That is a lie. Tell us now.” He said, “He said to me, ‘The LORD says, I have anointed you king over Israel.’” ¹³Then they hurried, and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king.” ¹⁴So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; ¹⁵but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) Jehu said, “If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.” ¹⁶So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. ¹⁷Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” ¹⁸So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, “the king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” The watchman said, “The messenger came to them, but he isn’t coming back.” ¹⁹Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them and said, “The king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” ²⁰The watchman said, “He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.” ²¹Joram said, “Get ready!” They got his chariot ready. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him on Naboth the Jezreelite’s land. ²²When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound?” ²³Joram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “This is treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. ²⁵Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him: ²⁶‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the LORD’s word.” ²⁷But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. ²⁸His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David’s city. ²⁹In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah. ³⁰When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. ³¹As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?” ³²He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. ³⁴When he had come in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel, ³⁷and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the surface of the field on Jezreel’s land, so that they won’t say, “This is Jezebel.”’”