NAS - 2 Kings Chapter 8 to 9

8 Jehoram Restores the Shunammite's Land

¹Now Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise and go with your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn; for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will even come on the land for seven years." ²So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went out to appeal to the king for her house and for her field. ⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please relate to me all the great things that Elisha has done." ⁵As he was relating to the king how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and for her field. And 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 related it to him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now."

Elisha Predicts Evil from Hazael

⁷Then Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told him, saying, "The man of God has come here." ⁸The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go to 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 gift in his hand, even every kind of 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, saying, `Will I recover from this sickness?'" ¹⁰Then Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, `You will surely recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die." ¹¹He fixed his gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. ¹²Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" Then he answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up." ¹³Then Hazael said, "But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" And Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram." ¹⁴So he departed from Elisha and returned to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would surely recover." ¹⁵On the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Another Jehoram Reigns in Judah

¹⁶Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. ¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁹However, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, since He had promised him to give a lamp to him through his sons 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 arose by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; but his army fled to their tents. ²²So Edom revolted against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³The 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?

Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram in Judah

²⁴So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son became king 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 became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸Then he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.

9 Jehu Reigns over Israel

¹Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead. ²"When you arrive there, search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room. ³"Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, `Thus says the LORD, "I have anointed you king over Israel."' Then open the door and flee and do not wait."

⁴So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said, "I have a word for you, O captain." And Jehu said, "For which one of us?" And he said, "For you, O captain." ⁶He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, `I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. ⁷`You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, 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. ⁸`For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. ⁹`I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰`The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.'" Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹Now Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?" And he said to them, "You know very well the man and his talk." ¹²They said, "It is a lie, tell us now." And he said, "Thus and thus he said to me, `Thus says the LORD, "I have anointed you king over Israel."'" ¹³Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king!"

Jehoram (Joram) Is Assassinated

¹⁴So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram with all Israel was defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. So Jehu said, "If this is your mind, then let no one escape or leave the city to go tell it in Jezreel." ¹⁶Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

¹⁷Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, "I see a company." And Joram said, "Take a horseman and send him to meet them and let him say, `Is it peace?'" ¹⁸So a horseman went to meet him and said, "Thus says the king, `Is it peace?'" And Jehu said, "What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me." And the watchman reported, "The messenger came to them, but he did not return." ¹⁹Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, "Thus says the king, `Is it peace?'" And Jehu answered, "What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me." ²⁰The watchman reported, "He came even to them, and he did not return; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously."

²¹Then Joram said, "Get ready." And they made his chariot ready. 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 in the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²²When Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" And he answered, "What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?" ²³So Joram reined about and fled and said to Ahaziah, "There is treachery, O Ahaziah!" ²⁴And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart and he sank in his chariot. ²⁵Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Take him up and cast him into the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for I remember when you and I were riding together after Ahab his father, that the LORD laid this oracle against 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 property,' says the LORD. Now then, take and cast him into the property, according to the word of the LORD."

Jehu Assassinates Ahaziah

²⁷When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu pursued him and said, "Shoot him too, in the chariot." So they shot him at the ascent of Gur, which is at Ibleam. But he fled to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.

²⁹Now in the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.

³⁰When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window. ³¹As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it well, Zimri, your master's murderer?" ³²Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" And two or three officials looked down at him.

Jezebel Is Slain

³³He said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her under foot. ³⁴When he came in, he ate and drank; and 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 nothing more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶Therefore they returned and told him. And he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, `In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷and the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, "This is Jezebel."'"