| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, "You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, for the LORD has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years." | 1Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take your family and move to some other place, for the LORD has called for a famine on Israel that will last for seven years.” |
| 2So the woman did as the prophet said. She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. | 2So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and settled in the land of the Philistines for seven years. |
| 3After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field. | 3After the famine ended she returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land. |
| 4Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet's servant, and said, "Tell me all the great things which Elisha has done." | 4As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, “Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done.” |
| 5While Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. Gehazi said, "My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!" | 5And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king about her house and land. “Look, my lord the king!” Gehazi exclaimed. “Here is the woman now, and this is her son—the very one Elisha brought back to life!” |
| 6The king asked the woman about it, and she gave him the details. The king assigned a eunuch to take care of her request and ordered him, "Give her back everything she owns, as well as the amount of crops her field produced from the day she left the land until now." | 6“Is this true?” the king asked her. And she told him the story. So he directed one of his officials to see that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence. Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad |
| 7Elisha traveled to Damascus while King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick. The king was told, "The prophet has come here." | 7Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ben-hadad lay sick. When someone told the king that the man of God had come, |
| 8So the king told Hazael, "Take a gift and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the LORD. Ask him, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'" | 8the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift to the man of God. Then tell him to ask the LORD, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” |
| 9So Hazael went to visit Elisha. He took along a gift, as well as forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, "Your son, King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'" | 9So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went to him and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” |
| 10Elisha said to him, "Go and tell him, 'You will surely recover,' but the LORD has revealed to me that he will surely die." | 10And Elisha replied, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But actually the LORD has shown me that he will surely die!” |
| 11Elisha just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the prophet started crying. | 11Elisha stared at Hazael with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy. Then the man of God started weeping. |
| 12Hazael asked, "Why are you crying, my master?" He replied, "Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women." | 12“What’s the matter, my lord?” Hazael asked him. Elisha replied, “I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!” |
| 13Hazael said, "How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?" Elisha answered, "The LORD has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria." | 13Hazael responded, “How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such great things?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram.” |
| 14He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad asked him, "What did Elisha tell you?" Hazael replied, "He told me you would surely recover." | 14When Hazael left Elisha and went back, the king asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” And Hazael replied, “He told me that you will surely recover.” |
| 15The next day Hazael took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad's face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king. | 15But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king’s face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram. Jehoram Rules in Judah |
| 16In the fifth year of the reign of Israel's King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram became king over Judah. | 16Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to rule over Judah in the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel. |
| 17He was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. | 17Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. |
| 18He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab's dynasty had done, for he married Ahab's daughter. He did evil in the sight of the LORD. | 18But Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab’s daughters. So Jehoram did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. |
| 19But the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty. | 19But the LORD did not want to destroy Judah, for he had promised his servant David that his descendants would continue to rule, shining like a lamp forever. |
| 20During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah's control and set up their own king. | 20During Jehoram’s reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. |
| 21Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. | 21So Jehoram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he went out at night and attacked them under cover of darkness. But Jehoram’s army deserted him and fled to their homes. |
| 22So Edom has remained free from Judah's control to this very day. At that same time Libnah also rebelled. | 22So Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah also revolted about that same time. |
| 23The rest of the events of Joram's reign, including a record of his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. | 23The rest of the events in Jehoram’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. |
| 24Joram passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Ahaziah replaced him as king. | 24When Jehoram died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Ahaziah became the next king. Ahaziah Rules in Judah |
| 25In the twelfth year of the reign of Israel's King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoram's son Ahaziah became king over Judah. | 25Ahaziah son of Jehoram began to rule over Judah in the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel. |
| 26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. | 26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. |
| 27He followed in the footsteps of Ahab's dynasty and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like Ahab's dynasty, for he was related to Ahab's family. | 27Ahaziah followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family. He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as Ahab’s family had done, for he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab. |
| 28He joined Ahab's son Joram in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. | 28Ahaziah joined Joram son of Ahab in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When the Arameans wounded King Joram in the battle, |
| 29King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill. | 29he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramoth. Because Joram was wounded, King Ahaziah of Judah went to Jezreel to visit him. |
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