2 Kings 8

1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had given back to life, Go now, with all the people of your house, and get a living-place for yourselves wherever you are able; for by the word of the Lord, there will be great need of food in the land; and this will go on for seven years.

Elisha told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family need to pack up and leave, and live where you can somewhere else like a foreigner. For the Lord announced a famine will come to the land and will last seven years.”

2 So the woman got up and did as the man of God said; and she and the people of her house were living in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

The woman packed up and did what the man of God had told her. She and her family went and lived as foreigners for seven years in the country of the Philistines.

3 And when the seven years were ended, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king with a request for her house and her land.

When the seven years were over, she came back from the country of the Philistines and went to the king to appeal for the return of her house and lands.

4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Now, give me an account of all the great things Elisha has done.

The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, asking him, “Please tell me about all the wonderful things Elisha did.”

5 And while he was giving the king the story of how Elisha had given life to the dead, the woman whose son had come back to life came to the king with a request for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, My lord king, this is the woman and this is her son, whose life Elisha gave back to him.

It so happened that right then Gehazi was telling the king the story of how Elisha had brought the dead boy back to life when his mother arrived to make her appeal to the king for the return of her house and lands. “My lord the king,” Gehazi called out, “this is the woman, and this is her son that Elisha brought back to life.”

6 And in answer to the king's questions, the woman gave him all the story. So the king gave orders to one of his unsexed servants, saying, Give her back all her property, and all the produce of her fields from the day when she went away from the land up till now.

The king asked the woman about it and she explained the whole story to him. The king gave orders to an official, saying, “Make sure everything that belonged to her is returned to her, together with all the profit from her lands from the day that she left the country until now.”

7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, was ill; and they said to him, The man of God has come.

Elisha went to Damascus when Ben-hadad king of Aram was ill. The king was informed, “The man of God has arrived in town.”

8 Then the king said to Hazael, Take an offering with you, and go to see the man of God and get directions from the Lord by him, saying, Am I going to get better from my disease?

The king ordered Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go and meet the man of God. Ask him to ask the Lord, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

9 So Hazael went to see him, taking with him forty camels with offerings on their backs of every sort of good thing from Damascus; and when he came before him, he said, Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Will I get better from this disease?

So Hazael went to meet Elisha. He took with him a gift of all the best things from Damascus—forty camel-loads of goods. He came in and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

10 And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You will certainly get better; but the Lord has made it clear to me that only death is before him.

“Go and tell him, ‘You will definitely recover.’ But the Lord has shown me that definitely he is going to die,” Elisha replied.

11 And he kept his eyes fixed on him till he was shamed, and the man of God was overcome with weeping.

Elisha stared at him for a long time until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the man of God started to cry.

12 And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? Then he said in answer, Because I see the evil which you will do to the children of Israel: burning down their strong towns, putting their young men to death with the sword, smashing their little ones against the stones, and cutting open the women who are with child.

“Why are you crying, my lord?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil things you are going to do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set their fortresses on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash to pieces their little ones, and rip open their pregnant women.”

13 And Hazael said, How is it possible that your servant, who is only a dog, will do this great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord has made it clear to me that you will be king over Aram.

“But how could someone like me who's just a ‘dog’ achieve anything like that?” Hazael asked. “The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram,” Elisha replied.

14 Then he went away from Elisha and came in to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And his answer was, He said that you would certainly get well.

Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael replied, “He told me you would definitely recover.”

15 Now on the day after, Hazael took the bed-cover, and making it wet with water, put it over Ben-hadad's face, causing his death: and Hazael became king in his place.

But the following day Hazael took the bed cover, soaked it in water, and spread it over the king's face until he died. Then Hazael took over from him as king.

16 In the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.

Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, began his reign as king of Judah in the fifth year of the reign of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was still king of Judah.

17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years.

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

18 He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the family of Ahab did: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Jehoram followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord's sight.

19 But it was not the Lord's purpose to send destruction on Judah, because of David his servant, to whom he had given his word that he would have a light for ever.

But for the sake of David his servant the Lord didn't want to destroy Judah since he had promised him that there would always be a ruler from his descendants, like a lamp forever.

20 In his time, Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, and took a king for themselves.

During Jehoram's time as king, Edom rebelled against Judah's rule and chose their own king.

21 Then Joram went over to Zair, with all his war-carriages; ... made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him, ... the captains of the war-carriages; and the people went in flight to their tents.

So Jehoram went over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he took action and attacked at night. But his army ran back to their homes.

22 So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah to this day. And at the same time, Libnah made itself free.

As a result Edom has been in rebellion against Judah's rule to this day. At the same time Libnah also decided to rebel.

23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

The rest of what happened in Jehoram's reign and all that he did are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

24 And Joram went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David: and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

Jehoram died and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

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

Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, became king of Judah in the twelfth year of the reign of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel.

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

Ahaziah was twenty-two when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.

27 He went in the ways of the family of Ahab, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord as the family of Ahab did, for he was a son-in-law of the family of Ahab.

Ahaziah also followed the evil ways of the family of Ahab, and did what was evil in the Lord's sight as the family of Ahab had done, for he was related to them by marriage.

28 He went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to make war on Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead: and Joram was wounded by the Aramaeans.

Ahaziah went with Joram, son of Ahab, to fight against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram,

29 So King Joram went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the bowmen had given him at Ramah, when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was ill.

and he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he'd received in Ramah fighting against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went to Jezreel to visit Joram, son of Ahab, because Joram was wounded.