2 Kings 8:7-29 ▼

7 Then Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “The man of God has come here.”

8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, ‘Will I be restored to life from this sickness?’”

9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I be restored to life from this sickness?’”

10 Then Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will surely be restored to life,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die.”

11 And he fixed his gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept.

12 Then Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he said, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their fortifications you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you will dash in pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip up.”

13 Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha answered, “Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

14 So he went from Elisha and came to his master. And he said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He said to me that you would surely be restored to life.”

15 Now it happened that on the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face; so he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

16 Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.

17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

19 However, Yahweh was not willing to make Judah a ruin, for the sake of David His servant, since He had promised him to give a lamp to him through his sons always.

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves.

21 Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots; but his army fled to their tents.

22 So Edom revolted against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

24 So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah became king.

26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

27 He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

28 Then he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war with Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans struck Joram.

29 So King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had caused by striking him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.