2 Kings 6; 2 Kings 7; 2 Kings 8

2 Kings 6

1 The groups of prophets said to Elisha, "The place where we meet with you is too small for us.

2 Let's go to the Jordan River. There everyone can get a log, and let's build a place there to live." Elisha said, "Go."

3 One of them said, "Please go with us." Elisha answered, "I will go,"

4 so he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they cut down some trees.

5 As one man was cutting down a tree, the head of his ax fell into the water. He yelled, "Oh, my master! I borrowed that ax!"

6 Elisha asked, "Where did it fall?" The man showed him the place. Then Elisha cut down a stick and threw it into the water, and it made the iron head float.

7 Elisha said, "Pick up the axhead." Then the man reached out and took it.

8 The king of Aram was at war with Israel. He had a council meeting with his officers and said, "I will set up my camp in this place."

9 Elisha, the man of God, sent a message to the king of Israel, saying, "Be careful! Don't pass that place, because the Arameans are going down there!"

10 The king of Israel checked the place about which Elisha had warned him. Elisha warned him several times, so the king protected himself there.

11 The king of Aram was angry about this. He called his officers together and demanded, "Tell me who of us is working for the king of Israel."

12 One of the officers said, "None, my master and king. It's Elisha, the prophet from Israel. He can tell you what you speak in your bedroom."

13 The king said, "Go and find him so I can send men and catch him." The servants came back and reported, "He is in Dothan."

14 Then the king sent horses, chariots, and many troops to Dothan. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.

15 Elisha's servant got up early, and when he went out, he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. The servant said to Elisha, "Oh, my master, what can we do?"

16 Elisha said, "Don't be afraid. The army that fights for us is larger than the one against us."

17 Then Elisha prayed, "Lord, open my servant's eyes, and let him see." The Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 As the enemy came down toward Elisha, he prayed to the Lord, "Make these people blind." So he made the Aramean army blind, as Elisha had asked.

19 Elisha said to them, "This is not the right road or the right city. Follow me and I'll take you to the man you are looking for." Then Elisha led them to Samaria.

20 After they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "Lord, open these men's eyes so they can see." So the Lord opened their eyes, and the Aramean army saw that they were inside the city of Samaria!

21 When the king of Israel saw the Aramean army, he said to Elisha, "My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?"

22 Elisha answered, "Don't kill them. You wouldn't kill people whom you captured with your sword and bow. Give them food and water, and let them eat and drink and then go home to their master."

23 So he prepared a great feast for the Aramean army. After they ate and drank, the king sent them away, and they went home to their master. The soldiers of Aram did not come anymore into the land of Israel.

24 Later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army and surrounded and attacked Samaria.

25 There was a shortage of food in Samaria. It was so bad that a donkey's head sold for about two pounds of silver, and half of a pint of dove's dung sold for about two ounces of silver.

26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman yelled out to him, "Help me, my master and king!"

27 The king said, "If the Lord doesn't help you, how can I? Can I get help from the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

28 Then the king said to her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we can eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.'

29 So we boiled my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we can eat him.' But she had hidden him."

30 When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes in grief. As he walked along the wall, the people looked and saw he had on rough cloth under his clothes to show his sadness.

31 He said, "May God punish me terribly if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat isn't cut off from his body today!"

32 The king sent a messenger to Elisha, who was sitting in his house with the older leaders. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to them, "See, this murderer is sending men to cut off my head. When the messenger arrives, shut the door and hold it; don't let him in. The sound of his master's feet is behind him."

33 Elisha was still talking with the leaders when the messenger arrived. The king said, "This trouble has come from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?"

2 Kings 7

1 Elisha said, "Listen to the Lord's word. This is what the Lord says: 'About this time tomorrow seven quarts of fine flour will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley will be sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver. This will happen at the gate of Samaria.'"

2 Then the officer who was close to the king answered Elisha, "Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn't happen." Elisha said, "You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

3 There were four men with a skin disease at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, "Why do we sit here until we die?

4 There is no food in the city. So if we go into the city, we will die there. If we stay here, we will die. So let's go to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we die."

5 So they got up at twilight and went to the Aramean camp, but when they arrived, no one was there.

6 The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. They had said to each other, "The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"

7 So they got up and ran away in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp standing and ran for their lives.

8 When the men with the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into one of the tents and ate and drank. They carried silver, gold, and clothes out of the camp and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent. They carried things from this tent and hid them, also.

9 Then they said to each other, "We're doing wrong. Today we have good news, but we are silent. If we wait until the sun comes up, we'll be discovered. Let's go right now and tell the people in the king's palace."

10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They said, "We went to the Aramean camp, but no one is there; we didn't hear anyone. The horses and donkeys were still tied up, and the tents were still standing."

11 Then the gatekeepers shouted out and told the people in the palace.

12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I'll tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we are starving. They have gone out of the camp to hide in the field. They're saying, 'When the Israelites come out of the city, we'll capture them alive. Then we'll enter the city.'"

13 One of his officers answered, "Let some men take five of the horses that are still left in the city. These men are like all the Israelites who are left; they are also about to die. Let's send them to see what has happened."

14 So the men took two chariots with horses. The king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and see what has happened."

15 The men followed the Aramean army as far as the Jordan River. The road was full of clothes and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away as they had hurriedly left. So the messengers returned and told the king.

16 Then the people went out and took valuables from the Aramean camp. So seven quarts of fine flour were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, and thirteen quarts of barley were sold for two-fifths of an ounce of silver, just as the Lord had said.

17 The king chose the officer who was close to him to guard the gate, but the people trampled the officer to death. This happened just as Elisha had told the king when the king came to his house.

18 He had said, "Thirteen quarts of barley and seven quarts of fine flour will each sell for two-fifths of an ounce of silver about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria."

19 But the officer had answered, "Even if the Lord opened windows in the sky, that couldn't happen." And Elisha had told him, "You will see it with your eyes, but you won't eat any of it."

20 It happened to the officer just that way. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

2 Kings 8

1 Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He said, "Get up and go with your family. Stay any place you can, because the Lord has called for a time without food that will last seven years."

2 So the woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She left with her family, and they stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

3 After seven years she returned from the land of the Philistines and went to beg the king for her house and land.

4 The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had said, "Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done."

5 Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought a dead boy back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came and begged the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "My master and king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha brought back to life."

6 The king asked the woman, and she told him about it. Then the king chose an officer to help her. "Give the woman everything that is hers," the king said. "Give her all the money made from her land from the day she left until now."

7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, where Ben-Hadad king of Aram was sick. Someone told him, "The man of God has arrived."

8 The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go meet him. Ask the Lord through him if I will recover from my sickness."

9 So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camels loaded with every good thing in Damascus. He came and stood before Elisha and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram sent me to you. He asks if he will recover from his sickness."

10 Elisha said to Hazael, "Go and tell Ben-Hadad, 'You will surely recover,' but the Lord has told me he will really die."

11 Hazael stared at Elisha until he felt ashamed. Then Elisha cried.

12 Hazael asked, "Why are you crying, master?" Elisha answered, "Because I know what evil you will do to the Israelites. You will burn their strong, walled cities with fire and kill their young men with swords. You will throw their babies to the ground and split open their pregnant women."

13 Hazael said, "Am I a dog? How could I do such things?" Elisha answered, "The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram."

14 Then Hazael left Elisha and came to his master. Ben-Hadad said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael answered, "He told me that you will surely recover."

15 But the next day Hazael took a blanket and dipped it in water. Then he put it over Ben-Hadad's face, and he died. So Hazael became king in Ben-Hadad's place.

16 While Jehoshaphat was king in Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah. This was during the fifth year Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.

17 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to rule, and he ruled eight years in Jerusalem.

18 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the family of Ahab had done, because he married Ahab's daughter. Jehoram did what the Lord said was wrong.

19 But the Lord would not destroy Judah because of his servant David. The Lord had promised that one of David's descendants would always rule.

20 In Jehoram's time Edom broke away from Judah's rule and chose their own king.

21 So Jehoram and all his chariots went to Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders. Jehoram got up and attacked the Edomites at night, but his army ran away to their tents.

22 From then until now the country of Edom has fought against the rule of Judah. At the same time Libnah also broke away from Judah's rule.

23 The other acts of Jehoram and all the things he did are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah.

24 Jehoram died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, and Jehoram's son Ahaziah ruled in his place.

25 Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah during the twelfth year Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.

26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

27 Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab's family. He did what the Lord said was wrong, as Ahab's family had done, because he was a son-in-law to Ahab.

28 Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to Ramoth in Gilead, where they fought against Hazael king of Aram. The Arameans wounded Joram.

29 So King Joram returned to Jezreel to heal from the wound he had received from the Arameans at Ramoth when he fought Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he had been wounded.