2 Kings 8

1 And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, “Rise and go, you and your household, and sojourn where you sojourn, for YHWH has called for a famine, and also, it is coming to the land [for] seven years.”

After Elisha caused the son of the woman from Shunem [town] to become alive again, he told her that she should leave with her family and live somewhere else for a while, because Yahweh was going to (send a famine/cause food to become very scarce) in the land. He said that the famine would last for seven years.

2 And the woman rises, and does according to the word of the man of God, and goes, she and her household, and sojourns in the land of the Philistines [for] seven years.

So the woman did what Elisha told her to do. She and her family went to live in [the] Philistia [region] for seven years.

3 And it comes to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman turns back from the land of the Philistines, and goes out to cry to the king for her house and for her field.

After the seven years were ended, they returned to their home. The woman went to the king to request that her house and her land be given back to her.

4 And the king is speaking to Gehazi, servant of the man of God, saying, “Please recount to me the whole of the great things that Elisha has done.”

When she arrived, the king was talking with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant. The king was saying to him, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.”

5 And it comes to pass, he is recounting to the king how he had revived the dead, and behold, the woman whose son he had revived is crying to the king for her house and for her field, and Gehazi says, “My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this [is] her son, whom Elisha revived.”

While Gehazi was telling the king that Elisha had caused the son of a woman [from Shunem] to become alive again, that woman came in and requested the king to enable her to get her house and land back again. Gehazi exclaimed, “Your Majesty, this is the woman whose son Elisha caused to become alive again!”

6 And the king inquires of the woman, and she recounts to him, and the king appoints a certain eunuch to her, saying, “Give back all that she has, and all the increase of the field from the day of her leaving the land even until now.”

When the king asked her about it, she told him [that what Gehazi had said was true]. The king summoned one of his officials and said to him, “[I want] everything that this woman possessed previously, including the value of all the crops that have been harvested during these last seven years while she was away from her land, [to] be given back to her.” [So the official did that].

7 And Elisha comes to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram is sick, and it is declared to him, saying, “The man of God has come here.”

Elisha went to Damascus, [the capital of Syria], when Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was [very] sick. When someone told the king that Elisha was in Damascus,

8 And the king says to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and you have sought YHWH by him, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?”

the king told [one of his officials named] Hazael, “Go and talk to that prophet and take a present/gift with you to give to him. Request him to ask Yahweh if I will recover from my illness.”

9 And Hazael goes to meet him, and takes a present in his hand, even of every good thing of Damascus, a burden of forty camels, and he comes in and stands before him, and says, “Your son Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?”

So Hazael went to talk with Elisha. He took with him forty camels that were carrying many kinds of goods that were produced in Damascus. When Hazael met him, he said to him, “Your friend Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, sent me to ask you whether [you think] he will recover from his illness.”

10 And Elisha says to him, “Go, say, You certainly do not revive, seeing [that] YHWH has showed me that he surely dies.”

Elisha said to Hazael, “Go and say to him, ‘Yes, you will certainly not die from this illness,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die [before he recovers].”

11 And he sets his face, indeed, he sets [it] until he is ashamed, and the man of God weeps.

Then Elisha stared at him and had a terrified look on his face. That caused Hazael to feel uneasy/embarrassed. Then [suddenly] Elisha started to cry.

12 And Hazael says, “Why is my lord weeping?” And he says, “Because I have known the evil that you do to the sons of Israel—you send their fortifications into fire, and you slay their young men with sword, and you dash their sucklings to pieces, and you rip up their pregnant women.”

Hazael said, “Sir, why are you crying?” Elisha replied, “Because [Yahweh has enabled] me [to] know the terrible things that you will do to the people of Israel: You will burn their cities with walls around them, you will kill their fine young men with a sword, you will bash the heads of their children, and you will rip open the bellies of their pregnant women [with a sword].”

13 And Hazael says, “But what [is] your servant—the dog, that he does this great thing?” And Elisha says, “YHWH has showed me you—king of Aram.”

Hazael replied, “I am [as insignificant as] [MET] a dog; (how could I do such things?/I would never do such terrible things!)” [RHQ] Elisha replied, “Yahweh has also revealed to me that you will become the king of Syria.”

14 And he goes from Elisha, and comes to his lord, and he says to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he says, “He said to me, You certainly recover.”

Then Hazael left and returned to his master/boss [the king], who asked him, “What did Elisha say?” He replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.”

15 And it comes to pass on the next day, that he takes the coarse cloth, and dips [it] in water, and spreads [it] on his face, and he dies, and Hazael reigns in his stead.

But the next day, [while the king was sleeping, ] Hazael took a blanket and soaked it in water. Then he spread it on the king’s face [in order that he could not breathe], and he died. Then Hazael became the king of Syria instead of Ben-Hadad.

16 And in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel—and Jehoshaphat [is] king of Judah—Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, has reigned;

After King Joram, the son of Ahab, had been ruling in Israel for almost five years, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became the king of Judah.

17 he was a son of thirty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

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

18 And he walks in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, for a daughter of Ahab was to him for a wife, and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH,

His wife was the daughter of King Ahab. And like everyone in Ahab’s family, he continually did the evil things that the previous kings of Israel had done. He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil.

19 and YHWH was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, as He said to him, to give a lamp to him—to his sons [for] all the days.

But Yahweh did not want to get rid of the people of Judah, because of what he had promised David, who served him [very well]. He had promised David that his descendants [MET] would always rule Judah.

20 In his days Edom has revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they cause a king to reign over them,

During the time that Jehoram ruled, [the king of] Edom rebelled against Judah, and they appointed their own king.

21 and Joram passes over to Zair, and all the chariots with him, and he himself has risen by night, and strikes Edom that is coming around to him, and the heads of the chariots, and the people flee to their tents;

So Jehoram went with his army and all their chariots to Zair [city near the border of Edom]. There the army of Edom surrounded them. But during the night, Jehoram and the commanders in their chariots were able to get through the enemy lines and escaped. And all his soldiers also fled to their homes.

22 and Edom revolts from under the hand of Judah until this day; then Libnah revolts at that time.

So after that, Edom was no longer controlled by Judah, and it is still like that. During that same time, the people of Libnah [city] also freed themselves from being controlled by Judah.

23 And the rest of the matters of Joram and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

[If you want to read about] the other things that Jehoram did, they are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

24 And Joram lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Ahaziah reigns in his stead.

Jehoram died [EUP] and was buried where the other kings of Judah had been buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became the king.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, has reigned;

After Ahab’s son Joram has been ruling in Israel for almost twelve years, Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became the king of Judah.

26 Ahaziah [is] a son of twenty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel,

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he started to rule. He ruled in Jerusalem for [only] one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, [the daughter of King Ahab and] the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel.

27 and he walks in the way of the house of Ahab, and does evil in the eyes of YHWH, like the house of Ahab, for he [is] son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

King Ahab conducted his life just like the members of Ahab’s family had done. He did things that Yahweh considered to be very evil.

28 And he goes with Joram son of Ahab to battle with Hazael king of Aram in Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans strike Joram,

Ahaziah’s army joined the army of King Joram of Israel to fight against the army of King Hazael of Syria. Their armies started fighting at Ramoth [city] in [the] Gilead [region], and the soldiers of Syria wounded Joram.

29 and Joram the king turns back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds with which the Arameans strike him in Ramah, in his fighting with Hazael king of Aram, and Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, has gone down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he is sick.

King Joram returned to Jezreel [city] to recover from his wounds. King Ahaziah went to visit him there.