2 *Kings 8

₁Some time before this Elisha had made a woman's son live again. Elisha went to her and told her: ‘You must take your family and leave. Go to another land and live there as a stranger because the Lord said there will be a famine in this land for 7 years.’ ₂The woman did what the man of God told her to do. She and her family went to the land of the Philistines and they lived there as strangers for 7 years. ₃After 7 years the woman came back from the land of the Philistines. She went to the king and asked him to help her get her home and her land back. ₄The king had been talking to Gehazi, the servant who worked for the man of God. The king had asked Gehazi to tell him about the wonderful things that Elisha had done. ₅Gehazi told the king that Elisha had made a boy live again after he had died. At the same time, the boy's mother came there. She asked the king to help her get her house and her land back. Gehazi said: ‘Your_Majesty, this is the woman and her son. Elisha made him live again.’ ₆The king asked the woman what had happened and she told him everything. The king then sent an officer with her and he told the officer: ‘She must get back everything that belonged to her, and also the money for the wheat that has grown on her land from the time that she went out of this land until now.’

₇Elisha went to Damascus when King Ben-Hadad of Aram was sick. They told the king that the man of God had come to Damascus ₈and the king told Hazael: ‘Take a gift to the man of God and tell him that I am sick. Tell him to ask the Lord if I will get better or if I will die.’ ₉Hazael went to Elisha and he took the gift with him. It was the best and most expensive things from Damascus. They packed them onto 40 camels. Hazael came to Elisha and said: ‘King Ben-Hadad is sick and he sent me to you to ask if he will get better or if he will die.’

₁₀Elisha said: ‘Tell Ben-Hadad he will get better, and he will not die. But the Lord has told me that Ben-Hadad will die, that is sure.’ ₁₁Elisha looked at Hazael for a long time. Later Hazael did not know what to do and Elisha started to cry. ₁₂Hazael asked: ‘Why are you crying, sir?’ And Elisha said: ‘I cry because I know what bad things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their towns and kill their young men, you will beat their babies and kill them and you will cut open their women who are pregnant.’

₁₃Hazael said: ‘I am not important. I am like a dog that is worthless. I will never do bad things like that.’ And Elisha said: ‘The Lord has shown me that you will become the king of Aram.’

₁₄Hazael went away from Elisha and he came to his king. When the king asked him what Elisha had told him, he said: ‘He told me that you will get better, that is sure.’ ₁₅But the next day Hazael took a wet cloth and held it over Ben-Hadad's face so that he could not breathe. Ben-Hadad died and Hazael became king in Ben-Hadad's place.

₁₆Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, became king_of_Judah in the 5th year after Joram, son of Ahab, had become king_of_Israel. ₁₇Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king of Jerusalem and he was king for 8 years. ₁₈He did all the bad things that the kings_of_Israel and the family of Ahab had done, because he married a daughter of Ahab. Jehoram did things that the Lord said are wrong. ₁₉But the Lord did not want everyone in Judah to die, because He had promised David that there would always be one of his descendants who was king of Jerusalem.

₂₀In the time when Jehoram was king_of_Judah, the Edomite people rebelled_against Judah, and they chose a king for themselves. ₂₁Jehoram took war-chariots and he went to the land of Zair. The Edomite soldiers came to him and they surrounded him and his officers. That night Jehoram attacked them and he escaped, but his men ran away to their tents. ₂₂The Edomite people freed themselves and the king_of_Judah did not rule over them anymore. The people of the town of Libnah also rebelled at the same time.

₂₃All the other things that Jehoram did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Judah. ₂₄Jehoram died and his people buried him with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king after him.

₂₅Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, became king_of_Judah in the 12th year after Joram, son of Ahab, had become king_of_Israel. ₂₆Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king in Jerusalem and he was king for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king_of_Israel. ₂₇Ahaziah did bad things like the family of Ahab had done. He did things that the Lord said are wrong. He lived like the family of Ahab because his mother was a daughter of Ahab.

₂₈Ahaziah went with Joram to fight in a war_against King Hazael of Aram at the town of Ramoth in Gilead and the Arameans defeated Joram. ₂₉The Arameans shot King Joram and wounded him when he made war_against King Hazael of Aram, in the town of Ramoth. King Joram went back to the town of Jezreel to get better. Ahaziah, son of King Jehoram of Judah, went to Jezreel to visit Joram, son of Ahab, because he was wounded.