8When those lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into one of the tents and ate and drank; then they carried off silver and gold and clothing from there and buried it. They came back and went into another tent, and they carried off what was there and buried it. 9Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent! If we wait until the light of morning, we shall incur guilt. Come, let us go and inform the king’s palace.” 10They went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We have been to the Aramean camp. There is not a soul there, nor any human sound; but the horses are tethered and the asses are tethered and the tents are undisturbed.”
11The gatekeepers called out, and the news was passed on into the king’s palace. 12The king rose in the night and said to his courtiers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they have gone out of camp and hidden in the fields, thinking: When they come out of the town, we will take them alive and get into the town.” 13But one of the courtiers spoke up, “Let a fewb of the remaining horses that are still here be taken—c-they are like those that are left here of the whole multitude of Israel, out of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished-c—and let us send and find out.”
14They took two teamsc of horses and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and find out.” 15They followed them as far as the Jordan, and found the entire road full of clothing and gear which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste; and the messengers returned and told the king. 16The people then went out and plundered the Aramean camp. So a seah of choice flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel—as the LORD had spoken.
17Now the king had put the aide on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate; and he was trampled to death in the gate by the people—just as the man of God had spoken, as he had spoken when the king came down to him. 18For when the man of God said to the king, “This time tomorrow two seahs of barley shall sell at the gate of Samaria for a shekel, and a seah of choice flour for a shekel,” 19the aide answered the man of God and said, “Even if the LORD made windows in the sky, could this come to pass?” And he retorted, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 20That is exactly what happened to him: The people trampled him to death in the gate.
8 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he revived, “Leave immediately with your family and go sojourn a-somewhere else;-a for the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine upon the land, and it has already begun.” 2The woman had done as the man of God had spoken; she left with her family and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to complain about her house and farm. 4Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and he said, “Tell me all the wonderful things that Elisha has done.” 5While he was telling the king how [Elisha] had revived a dead person, in came the woman whose son he had revived, complaining to the king about her house and farm. “My lord king,” said Gehazi, “this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha revived.” 6The king questioned the woman, and she told him [the story]; so the king assigned a eunuch to her and instructed him: “Restore all her property, and all the revenue from her farm from the time she left the country until now.”
7Elisha arrived in Damascus at a time when King Ben-hadad of Aram was ill. b-The king-b was told, “The man of God is on his way here,” 8and he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go meet the man of God, and through him inquire of the LORD: Will I recover from this illness?” 9Hazael went to meet him, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the bounty of Damascus. He came and stood before him and said, “Your son, King Ben-hadad of Aram, has sent me to you to ask: Will I recover from this illness?” 10Elisha said to him, “Go and say to him, ‘You will recover.’ However, the LORD has revealed to me that he will die.” 11The man of God c-kept his face expressionless-c for a long time; and then he wept. 12“Why does my lord weep?” asked Hazael. “Because I know,” he replied, “what harm you will do to the Israelite people: you will set their fortresses on fire, put their young men to the sword, dash their little ones in pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.” 13“But how,” asked Hazael, “can your servant, who is a mere dog, perform such a mighty deed?” Elisha replied, “The LORD has shown me a vision of you as king of Aram.” 14He left Elisha and returned to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He replied, “He told me that you would recover.” 15The next day, [Hazael] took c-a piece of netting,-c dipped it in water, and spread it over his face. So [Ben-hadad] died, and Hazael succeeded him as king.
16In the fifth year of King Joramd son of Ahab of Israel—Jehoshaphat had been king of Judah—Joram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah became king. 17He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18He followed the practices of the kings of Israel—whatever the House of Ahab did, for he had married a daughtere of Ahab—and he did what was displeasing to the LORD. 19However, the LORD refrained from destroying Judah, for the sake of His servant David, in accordance with His promise to maintain a lamp for his descendants for all time. 20During his reign, the Edomites rebelled against Judah’s rule and set up a king of their own. 21Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariotry. c-He arose by night and attacked the Edomites, who were surrounding him and the chariot commanders; but-c his troops fled to their homes. 22Thus Edom fell away from Judah, as is still the case. Libnah likewise fell away at that time.
23The other events of Joram’s reign, and all his actions, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 24Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.
25In the twelfth year of King Joram son of Ahab of Israel, Ahaziah son of Joram became king of Judah. 26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year; his mother’s name was Athaliah daughter of King Omri of Israel. 27He walked in the ways of the House of Ahab and did what was displeasing to the LORD, like the House of Ahab, for he was related by marriage to the House of Ahab. 28He marched with Joram son of Ahab to battle against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, but the Arameans wounded Joram. 29King Joram retired to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted upon him at Ramah, when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. And King Ahaziah son of Joram of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab while he was ill.
9 Then the prophet Elisha summoned one of the disciples of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your skirts,a and take along this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2When you arrive there, go and see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; get him to leave his comrades, and take him into an inner room. 3Then take the flask of oil and pour some on his head, and say, ‘Thus said the LORD: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee without delay.”
4The young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5When he arrived, the army commanders were sitting together. He said, “Commander, I have a message for you.” “For which one of us?” Jehu asked. He answered, “For you, commander.” 6So [Jehu] arose and went inside; and [the disciple] poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. 7You shall strike down the House of Ahab your master; thus will I avenge on Jezebel the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of the other servants of the LORD. 8The whole House of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off every male belonging to Ahab, b-bond and free-b in Israel. 9I will make the House of Ahab like the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the House of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the field of Jezreel, with none to bury her.” Then he
