2 Kings 8:1-13 ▼

1 Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, |Go away with your family. Stay wherever you can. The LORD has decided to send a famine on this country, and it will last seven years.|

2 The woman did what the man of God told her. She and her family went to live in Philistine territory for seven years.

3 At the end of seven years, the woman came home from Philistine territory but left again to make an appeal to the king about her house and land.

4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. He said, |Please tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.|

5 While Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha brought a dead child back to life, the mother [came to] make an appeal to the king about her house and land. Gehazi said, |Your Majesty, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life.|

6 When the king asked the woman [about this], she told him the story. So the king assigned to her an attendant to whom he said, |Restore all that is hers, including whatever her property produced from the day she left the country until now.|

7 Elisha went to Damascus. King Benhadad of Aram, who was sick, was told, |The man of God has come here.|

8 The king told Hazael, |Take a present, and meet the man of God. Ask the LORD through him, 'Will I recover from this illness?'|

9 Hazael went to meet Elisha. He took with him a present and all kinds of goods from Damascus. He had loaded the goods on 40 camels. He stood in front of Elisha and said, |Your humble servant King Benhadad of Aram has sent me to you. He asks whether he will recover from this illness.|

10 Elisha replied, |Tell him that he will get better, although the LORD has shown me that he is actually going to die.|

11 He stared at him until he became embarrassed. Then the man of God began to cry.

12 |Sir, why are you crying?| Hazael asked. Elisha answered, |I know the evil you will do to the Israelites: You will set their fortresses on fire, kill their best young men, smash their little children, and rip open their pregnant women.|

13 But Hazael asked, |How can a dog like me do such a significant thing?| Elisha answered, |The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram.|