9
So Hazael went to meet him, taking a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he entered and stood before him, he said, "Your son King Ben-hadad of Aram has sent me to you, saying, "Shall I recover from this illness?' "
10
Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, "You shall certainly recover'; but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die."
11
He fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept.
12
Hazael asked, "Why does my lord weep?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel; you will set their fortresses on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their pregnant women."
13
Hazael said, "What is your servant, who is a mere dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Aram."
14
Then he left Elisha, and went to his master Ben-hadad, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would certainly recover."
15
But the next day he took the bed-cover and dipped it in water and spread it over the king's face, until he died. And Hazael succeeded him.
16
In the fifth year of King Joram son of Ahab of Israel, Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to reign.
17
He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18
He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
19
Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants forever.