Now ^aElisha had said to the Shunammite woman whose son he had restored to life, “Prepare and go, you and your household, and ¹stay temporarily wherever you can; for the ^bLORD has called for a famine, and moreover, ^cit will come on the land and continue for seven years.” 2 So the woman set out and did everything in accordance with the word of the man of God. She and her household went and ¹stayed temporarily as foreigners in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 At the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to appeal to the king of Israel for her house and for her land. 4 Now the king was talking with ^1aGehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And just as Gehazi was telling the king ^ahow Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 When the king asked the woman, she told him everything. So the king appointed for her a certain high official, saying, “Restore everything that was hers, including all the produce of the field since the day that she left the land until now.”

7 Now Elisha came to ^aDamascus, and ^bBen-hadad king of Aram (Syria) was sick; and he was told, “^cThe man of God has come here.” 8 And the king said to ^aHazael, “^bTake a gift with you and go to meet the man of God, and ^cinquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” 9 So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a gift with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “^aYour son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” 10 And Elisha said to him, “^aGo, say to him, ‘You will certainly recover,’ but the ^bLORD has shown me that he will certainly die.” 11 Elisha stared steadily at Hazael ^auntil he was embarrassed, and ^bthen the man of God wept. 12 Hazael said, “Why are you weeping, my lord?” He answered, “Because ^aI know the evil that you will do to the sons (descendants) of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, kill their young men with the sword, ^bsmash their children to pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.” 13 Then Hazael said, “Surely not! For what is your servant, who is nothing more than a ^adog, that he would do this monstrous thing?” And Elisha answered, “^bThe LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” 14 Then Hazael departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me ^ayou would certainly recover.” 15 But the next day Hazael took the bedspread and dipped it in water and covered the king’s face, ^aso that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

16 Now in the fifth year of ^1aJoram (Jehoram) the son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. 17 He was ^athirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. 18 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for Athaliah ^athe daughter of Ahab became his wife. He did ¹evil in the sight of the LORD. 19 Yet for the sake of His servant David the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, ^asince He had promised to give him a lamp (enthroned descendant) through his sons always.

20 In his days ^aEdom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king over themselves. 21 So Jehoram king of Judah went over to Zair in Edom with all his chariots. He set out by night and struck down the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of his chariots; ^abut the people of his army fled to their tents. 22 ^aSo Edom revolted ¹against Judah to this day. Then ^bLibnah revolted at the same time. 23 The rest of the acts of Jehoram and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

24 Jehoram slept with his fathers in death and ^awas buried with them in the City of David. ^bAhaziah his son became king in his place.

25 ^aIn the twelfth year of Joram (Jehoram) the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26 ^aAhaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 ^aHe walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

28 Ahaziah went with Joram the son of Ahab to battle against ^aHazael king of Aram (Syria) in ^bRamoth-gilead; and the Arameans wounded Joram. 29 ^aKing Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at ^bRamah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And ^cAhaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.