1 ARST After Elisha had caused the son of the woman from the city of Shunem to become alive again, he had told her that she should leave with her family and live somewhere else for a while, because Yahweh was going to send a famine in the land. He said that the famine would last for seven years. BSB BSB: Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed that a seven-year famine will come to the land.”
2 ARST So the woman had done what Elisha told her to do. She and her family had gone to live in the region of Philistia for seven years. BSB BSB: So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines.
3 ARST After the seven years were ended, they returned to their home. The woman went to the king to request that her house and her land be given back to her. BSB BSB: At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land.
4 ARST When she arrived, the king was talking with Gehazi, Elisha’ s servant. The king was saying to him,“Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” BSB BSB: Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”
5 ARST While Gehazi was telling the king that Elisha had caused the son of a woman from Shunem to become alive again, that woman came in and requested the king to enable her to get her house and land back again. Gehazi exclaimed,“Your Majesty, this is the woman whose son Elisha caused to become alive again!” BSB BSB: And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”
6 ARST When the king asked her about it, she told him that what Gehazi had said was true. The king summoned one of his officials and said to him,“Make sure that this woman gets back everything that she owned in the past, including the value of all the crops that have been harvested during these last seven years while she was away from her land.” So the official did that. BSB BSB: When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.”
7 ARST Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, at the time when Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, was very sick. When someone told the king that Elisha was in Damascus, BSB BSB: Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God has come here.”
8 ARST the king told one of his officials named Hazael,“Go and talk to that prophet and take a present with you to give to him. Request him to ask Yahweh if I will recover from my illness.” BSB BSB: So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
9 ARST So Hazael went to talk with Elisha. He took with him forty camels that were carrying many kinds of goods that were produced in Damascus. When Hazael met him, he said to him,“Your friend Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, sent me to ask you whether you think he will recover from his illness.” BSB BSB: So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. And he went in and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
10 ARST Elisha said to Hazael,“Go and say to him,‘Yes, you will certainly not die from this illness,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die before he recovers.” BSB BSB: Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”
11 ARST Then Elisha stared at him and had a terrified look on his face. That caused Hazael to feel uneasy. Then suddenly Elisha started to cry. BSB BSB: Elisha fixed his gaze steadily on him until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the man of God began to weep.
12 ARST Hazael said,“Sir, why are you crying?” Elisha replied,“Because Yahweh has enabled me to know the terrible things that you will do to the people of Israel. Your soldiers will burn their cities that now have walls around them, kill their fine young men in battle, crush the heads of their children, and rip open the bellies of their pregnant women with swords.” BSB BSB: “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
13 ARST Hazael replied,“I am as powerless as a dog. How could I do such terrible things?” Elisha replied,“Yahweh has also revealed to me that you will become the king of Aram.” BSB BSB: “But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
14 ARST Then Hazael left and returned to his master the king, who asked him,“What did Elisha say?” He replied,“He told me that you would certainly recover.” BSB BSB: So Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he replied, “He told me that you would surely recover.”
15 ARST But the next day, while the king was sleeping, Hazael took a blanket and soaked it in water. Then he spread it on the king’ s face in order that he could not breathe, and he died. Then Hazael became the king of Aram instead of Ben Hadad. BSB BSB: But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.
16 ARST After King Joram son of Ahab, had been ruling in Israel for almost five years, Jehoshaphat’ s son Jehoram became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah.
17 ARST He was thirty- two years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. BSB BSB: Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
18 ARST His wife was the daughter of King Ahab. Like everyone in Ahab’ s family, he continually did the evil things that the previous kings of Israel had done. He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. BSB BSB: And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD.
19 ARST But Yahweh did not want to get rid of the people of Judah, because of what he had promised David, who served him very well. He had promised David that his descendants would always rule Judah. BSB BSB: Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
20 ARST During the time that Jehoram ruled, the king of Edom rebelled against Judah, and they appointed their own king. BSB BSB: In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.
21 ARST So Jehoram went with his army and all their chariots to the city of Zair near the border of Edom. There the army of Edom surrounded them. But during the night, Jehoram and the commanders in their chariots were able to get through the enemy lines and escaped. And all his soldiers also fled to their homes. BSB BSB: So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes.
22 ARST So after that, Edom was no longer controlled by Judah, and it is still like that. During that same time, the people of the city of Libnah also freed themselves from being controlled by Judah. BSB BSB: So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time.
23 ARST If you want to read about the other things that Jehoram did, they are written in Book of the Events of the Kings of Judah. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Jehoram, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
24 ARST Jehoram died and was buried where the other kings of Judah had been buried in the part of Jerusalem called the city of David. Then Jehoram’ s son Ahaziah became the king. BSB BSB: And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
25 ARST After Ahab’ s son Joram has been ruling in Israel for almost twelve years, Jehoram’ s son Ahaziah became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.
27 ARST King Ahaziah conducted his life just like the members of Ahab’ s family had done. He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. BSB BSB: And Ahaziah walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
29 ARST King Joram returned to the city of Jezreel in order to recover from his wounds. King Ahaziah went to visit him there. BSB BSB: So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.
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