3 Jehoram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eight-eenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. 2He did what was displeasing to the LORD, yet not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillars of Baal that his father had made. 3However, he clung to the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit; he did not depart from them.
4Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he used to pay as tribute to the king of Israel a-a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.-a 5But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6So King Jehoram promptly set out from Samaria and mustered all Israel. 7At the same time, he sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you come with me to make war on Moab?” He replied, “I will go. I will do what you do: my troops shall be your troops, my horses shall be your horses.” 8And he asked, “Which route shall we take?” [Jehoram] replied, “The road through the wilderness of Edom.”
9So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and they marched for seven days until they rounded [the tip of the Dead Sea]; and there was no water left for the army or for the animals that were with them. 10“Alas!” cried the king of Israel. “The LORD has brought these three kings together only to deliver them into the hands of Moab.” 11But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” One of the courtiers of the king of Israel spoke up and said, “Elisha son of Shaphat, who b-poured water on the hands of-b Elijah, is here.” 12“The word of the LORD is with him,” said Jehoshaphat. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have you to do with me? Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets.” But the king of Israel said, “Don’t [say that], for the LORD has brought these three kings together only to deliver them into the hands of Moab.” 14“As the LORD of Hosts lives, whom I serve,” Elisha answered, “were it not that I respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I wouldn’t look at you or notice you. 15Now then, get me a musician.”
As the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him, 16and he said, “Thus said the LORD: This wadi shall be full of pools. 17For thus said the LORD: You shall see no wind, you shall see no rain, and yet the wadi shall be filled with water; and you and your cattle and your pack animals shall drink. 18And this is but a slight thing in the sight of the LORD, for He will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19You shall conquer every fortified town and every splendid city; you shall fell every good tree and stop up all wells of water; and every fertile field you shall ruin with stones.” 20And in the morning, when it was time to present the meal offering, water suddenly came from the direction of Edom and the land was covered by the water.
21Meanwhile, all the Moabites had heard that the kings were advancing to make war on them; c-every man old enough to bear arms-c rallied, and they stationed themselves at the border. 22Next morning, when they rose, the sun was shining over the water, and from the distance the water appeared to the Moabites as red as blood. 23“That’s blood!” they said. “The kings must have fought among themselves and killed each other. Now to the spoil, Moab!”
24They entered the Israelite camp, and the Israelites arose and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them. d-They advanced, constantly attack-ing-d the Moabites, 25and they destroyed the towns. Every man threw a stone into each fertile field, so that it was covered over; and they stopped up every spring and felled every fruit tree. e-Only the walls of-e Kir-hareseth were left, and then the slingers surrounded it and attacked it. 26Seeing that the battle was going against him, the king of Moab led an attempt of seven hundred swordsmen to break a way through to the king of Edom;f but they failed. 27So he took his first-born son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up on the wall as a burnt offering. A great wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and went back to [their own] land.
4 A certain woman, the wife of one of the disciples of the prophets, cried out to Elisha: “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know how your servant revered the LORD. And now a creditor is coming to seize my two children as slaves.” 2Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?” She replied, “Your maid-servant has nothing at all in the house, except a jug of oil.” 3“Go,” he said, “and borrow vessels outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels, as many as you can. 4Then go in and shut the door behind you and your children, and pour [oil] into all those vessels, removing each one as it is filled.”
5She went away and shut the door behind her and her children. They kept bringing [vessels] to her and she kept pouring. 6When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” He answered her, “There are no more vessels”; and the oil stopped. 7She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”
8One day Elisha visited Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to have a meal; and whenever he passed by, he would stop there for a meal. 9Once she said to her husband, “I am sure it is a holy man of God who comes this way regularly. 10Let us make a small a-enclosed upper chamber-a and place a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp-stand there for him, so that he can stop there whenever he comes to us.” 11One day he came there; he retired to the upper chamber and lay down there. 12He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call that Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she stood before him. 13He said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak in your behalf to the king or to the army commander?’ ” She replied, “I live among my own people.” 14“What then can be done for her?” he asked. “The fact is,” said Gehazi, “she has no son, and her hus-band is old.” 15“Call her,” he said. He called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16And Elisha said, “At this season next year, you will be em-bracing a son.” She replied, “Please, my lord, man of God, do not delude your maidservant.”
17The woman conceived and bore a son at the same season the follow-ing year, as Elisha had assured her. 18The child grew up. One day, he went out to his father among the reapers. 19[Suddenly] he cried to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” He said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20He picked him up and brought him to his mother. And the child sat on her lap until noon; and he died. 21She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and left him and closed the door. 22Then she called to her husband: “Please, send me one of the servants and one of the she-asses, so I can hurry to the man of God and back.” 23But he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” She answered, b-“It’s all right.”-b
24She had the ass saddled, and said to her servant, “Urge [the beast] on;c see that I don’t slow down unless I tell you.” 25She went on until she came to the man of God on Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her from afar, he said to his servant Gehazi, “There is that Shunam-mite woman. 26Go, hurry toward her and ask her, ‘How are you? How is your husband? How is the child?’ ” “We are well,” she replied. 27But when she came up to the man of God on the mountain, she clasped his feet. Gehazi stepped forward to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” 28Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say: ‘Don’t mislead me’?”
29He said to Gehazi, d-“Tie up your skirts,-d take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. And place my staff on the face of the boy.” 30But the boy’s mother said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you!” So he arose and
