2 Kings 8:1-13 ▼

1 THEN Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, Arise and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall come upon the land for seven years.

2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the prophet of God; and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

3 And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her field.

4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the prophet of God, saying, Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.

5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored a dead body to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.

6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer and said to him, Restore all that was hers and all the produce of her field from the day that she left the land even until now.

7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Bar-hadad the king of Aram was sick; and it was told him, saying, The prophet of God has come here.

8 And the king said to Hazael, Take a present with you and go to meet the prophet of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him and said to him, Your son Bar-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

10 And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You shall surely recover; but the LORD has shown me that he shall surely die.

11 Then the prophet of God wept.

12 And Hazael said, Why does my lord weep? And Elisha said to him, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, their young men you will slay with the sword, and you will dash their children against the ground and rip up their women with child.

13 And Hazael said, But what, is your servant a dog, that he should do this terrible thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD has shown me that you shall be king over Aram.