The Shunammite’s Land Restored 1 UST Several years earlier, Elisha had spoken to the Shunammite woman whose son he had made live again. He had told her,“Yahweh is going to allow a famine to occur in Israel. This famine will last for seven years. So you and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while{ where there will be food to eat}.” 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 UST 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 UST After those seven years were over, she and her family returned to Israel.{ By this time someone else was living in her house and on her land, so} the woman went to the king to ask him to order that person to return her house and her land 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 UST { Just as she arrived,} the king was speaking with Gehazi, Elisha’ s servant. The king was saying to him,“Tell me about all the miracles 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 UST Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had caused the woman’ s son to become alive again, that woman came in and asked the king to enable her to get her house and land back. Gehazi exclaimed,“Your Majesty, this is the woman I was just telling you about, and this is her son, whom 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 UST So the king asked her about this, and she told him the whole story of what Elisha had done. Then the king assigned one of his officials to help her. He told him,“Make sure that this woman gets her house and land back. Also give her as many crops as grew on her land while she was away.” 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.”
Hazael Murders Ben-hadad 7 UST Later Elisha traveled to the city of Damascus. At that time, King Ben Hadad of Aram was very sick. When someone told him that Elisha had come to 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 UST the king told his official Hazael,“Go and speak with Elisha. Bring him a gift{ from me}, and ask him to ask Yahweh if I will recover from this 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 UST So Hazael went to speak with Elisha. As a gift, he brought him many of the goods that people produced in Damascus. It took 40 camels to carry everything he brought. When Hazael met with Elisha, he told him,“Your friend Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask you whether 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 UST Elisha told Hazael,“You may go back and tell him that he will surely recover from this illness. However, Yahweh has shown me that he is going to die{ some other way}.” 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 UST Then Elisha looked steadily at Hazael for a long time. That made Hazael feel embarrassed. Then 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 UST Hazael asked,“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 down their cities that now have walls around them. They will kill their best young soldiers in battle. They will throw their babies against stones to kill them. And they will use their swords to split open the bellies of their pregnant women{ and kill the children in their wombs}.” 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 UST Hazael replied,“I am an insignificant person. I do not have the power to do the things you have described.” Elisha replied,“Yahweh has 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 UST Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to the king. The king asked Hazael,“What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael replied,“He told me that you would surely 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 UST But the next day{, while the king was sleeping,} Hazael got a thick cloth and soaked it in water. Then he spread it over the king’ s face so that he would not be able to breathe. As a result, 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.
Jehoram Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 21:1–7)
16 UST After Joram son of Ahab had been ruling Israel for almost five years, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became one of the rulers of Judah. Jehoshaphat continued to be a ruler himself. 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 UST Jehoram was 32 years old when he became a ruler, 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 UST Jehoram’ s wife was the daughter of King Ahab. As a result, he behaved just as the kings of Israel behaved who were descendants of Ahab. He did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites 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 UST However, Yahweh had promised his servant David that his descendants would always be kings. So Yahweh did not want to allow the enemies of the kingdom of Judah to destroy it. 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.
Edom and Libnah Rebel (2 Chronicles 21:8–11)
20 UST During the time when Jehoram ruled, the Edomites rebelled against Judah. 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 UST So Joram went with his army and all of his chariots to the city of Zair. The commanders of the Edomite army came and surrounded them with their chariots. Jehoram had to make a{ surprise} attack at night{ in order to escape}. Then the regular soldiers ran away and went home{, so Joram was not able to reconquer Edom}. 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 UST Since that time, Judah has no longer controlled Edom. Around that same time, the people of the city of Libnah also rebelled against 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 UST The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Jehoram did. 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 UST Then Joram died, and the Judeans buried him in the part of Jerusalem that people called the City of David. That is where people had buried his ancestors. Joram’ s son Ahaziah became the next 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.
Ahaziah Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 22:1–7)
25 UST After Joram son of Ahab had been ruling Israel for almost 12 years, Ahaziah son of Jehoram 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 UST Because Ahaziah’ s mother was a daughter of Ahab, he behaved just as the kings of Israel behaved who were descendants of Ahab. He did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites 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 UST So King Joram left Ramah, where his army had been fighting against the army of King Hazael of Aram. Because the Arameans had wounded him, he went back to the city of Jezreel to recover from his wounds. King Ahaziah of Judah learned that he had gone there to recover. So he went to Jezreel to visit him. 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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