2 Kings Chapter 8

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

¹ Elisha told the woman whose son he’d revived, “Take your family and live temporarily wherever you can. Yahveh has called for a seven-year famine here.” ² They went to stay with the Philistines. ³ Seven years later, she came back and appealed to the king for her house and farm. ⁴ He was talking to Gehazi, the man of God’s servant, “Tell me the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵ As he was telling him how he’d restored life to a boy, she appealed to the king for her house and farm. Gehazi said, “My lord the king, that’s the woman, and that’s her son!” ⁶ When the king asked her, she told him about it. He appointed an officer to give her back everything, including the crops since she left.       2 Kg 8:1-6

Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

⁷ Elisha went to Damascus. Benhadad, king of Aram, was sick and heard that the man of God was there. ⁸ He told Hazael, “Take him a gift and ask Yahveh by him if I’ll recover.” ⁹ Hazael went to meet him with a gift, every kind of good thing in Damascus—40 camel loads. He stood in front of him and said, “Your son Benhadad, king of Aram, has sent me to ask you if he’ll recover from his sickness.”

¹⁰ Elisha said, “He’ll recover, but Yahveh has shown me that he’ll certainly die.” ¹¹ He stared at him till he was embarrassed, and the man of God cried.

¹² Hazael said, “Why are you crying, Sir?”

“Because I know the terrible things you’ll do to Israel. You’ll set their fortresses on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ “What am I, a dog, to do things like that?”

Elisha answered, “Yahveh has shown me that you’ll be king of Aram.”

¹⁴ He went back to his master, who said, “What did Elisha say to you?”

“He said you’d recover.”

¹⁵ The next day Hazael dipped a blanket in water and pressed it over Benhadad’s face, to kill him. Hazael became king. 2 Kg 8:7-15

Jehoram Rules in Judah

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Joram/Jehoram Ben-Ahab, king of Israel—who ruled at the time of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah—Jehoram Ben-Jehoshaphat became king. ¹⁷ He was 32 and ruled for 8 years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ He followed Israel’s kings like Ahab had done because he’d married Ahab’s daughter. He did evil, ¹⁹ but for David’s sake Yahveh wasn’t willing to destroy Judah. He’d promised to always give him a lamp through his descendants.

²⁰ During his reign, Edom revolted from Judah and appointed a king. ²¹ Joram and his chariots crossed over to Zair. He got up at night and struck at the Edomites that had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots, but his army fled to their tents. ²² Edom has been in revolt against Judah ever since. ²³ The rest of the acts of Joram/Jehoram are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ²⁴ He died and they buried him in The City of David. His son Ahaziah became king.                                                          2 Kg 8:16-24

Ahaziah Rules in Judah

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram/Jehoram Ben-Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah Ben-Jehoram began to rule. ²⁶ He was 22 and ruled for 1 year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. ²⁷ He did evil like Ahab’s family had done because he was Ahab’s son-in-law. ²⁸ He went to war along with Joram against Hazael, king of Aram in Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded him. ²⁹ King Joram came back to Jezreel to heal up. Then Ahaziah went down to see Joram because he’d been wounded. 2 Kg 8:25-29