12
"Why are you crying, sir?" Hazael asked. "Because I know the horrible things you will do against the people of Israel," Elisha answered. "You will set their fortresses on fire, slaughter their finest young men, batter their children to death, and rip open their pregnant women."
13
"How could I ever be that powerful?" Hazael asked. "I'm a nobody!"
1 "The Lord has shown me that you will be king of Syria," Elisha replied.
14
Hazael went back to Benhadad, who asked him, "What did Elisha say?" "He told me that you would certainly get well," Hazael answered.
15
But on the following day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and smothered the king. And Hazael succeeded Benhadad as king of Syria.
16
In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab as king of Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah
17
at the age of thirty-two, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years.
18
His wife was Ahab's daughter, and like the family of Ahab he followed the evil ways of the kings of Israel. He sinned against the Lord,
19
but the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, because he had promised his servant David that his descendants would always continue to rule.
2
20
During Jehoram's reign Edom revolted against Judah and became an independent kingdom.
3
21
So Jehoram set out with all his chariots to Zair, where the Edomite army surrounded them. During the night he and his chariot commanders managed to break out and escape, and his soldiers scattered to their homes.
22
Edom has been independent of Judah ever since. During this same period the city of Libnah also revolted.