2nd Kings — 8

The Woman from Shunam Returns Home

1 Alysha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take your family and move to some other place, for  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has called for a famine on Yashar'AL that will last for seven years.” 

2 So the woman did as the servant of  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH instructed. She took her family and settled in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

3 After the famine ended she returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land. 

4 As she came in, the king was talking with Gahazi, the servant of Alysha. The king had just said, “Tell me some stories about the great things Alysha has done.” 

5 And Gahazi was telling the king about the time Alysha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king about her house and land. “Look, my master the king!” Gahazi exclaimed. “Here is the woman now, and this is her son the very one Alysha brought back to life!”

6 “Is this true?” the king asked her. And she told him the story. So he directed one of his officials to see that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.

Hazaal Murders Ban-Hadad

7 Alysha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ban-hadad lay sick. When someone told the king that the servant of 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH had come, 

8 the king said to Hazaal, “Take a gift to the servant of 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. Then tell him to ask 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

9 So Hazaal loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Alysha, he went to Alysha and said, “Your servant Ban-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

10 And Alysha replied, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But actually  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has shown me that he will surely die!” 

11 Alysha stared at Hazaal with a fixed gaze until Hazaal became uneasy. Then the servant of 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH started weeping.

12 “What’s the matter, my master?” Hazaal asked him. Alysha replied, “I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Yashar'AL. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!”

13 Hazaal responded, “How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such great things?” Alysha answered, “𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram.”

14 When Hazaal left Alysha and went back, the king asked him, “What did Alysha tell you?” And Hazaal replied, “He told me that you will surely recover.”

15 But the next day Hazaal took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king’s face until he died. Then Hazaal became the next king of Aram.

Yahuram Rules in Yahudah

16 Yahuram son of King Yahushaphat of Yahudah began to rule over Yahudah in the fifth year of the reign of Yuram son of Ahab, king of Yashar'AL. 

17 Yahuram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Yahushalam eight years. 

18 But Yahuram followed the example of the kings of Yashar'AL and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab’s daughters. So Yahuram did what was evil in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. 

19 But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH did not want to destroy Yahudah, for he had promised his servant Daud that his descendants would continue to rule, shining like a lamp forever.

20 During Yahuram’s reign, the Adumites revolted against Yahudah and crowned their own king. 

21 So Yahuram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Adumites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he went out at night and attacked them under cover of darkness. But Yahuram’s army deserted him and fled to their homes. 

22 So Adum has been independent from Yahudah to this day. The town of Libnah also revolted about that same time.

23 The rest of the events in Yahuram’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Yahudah. 

24 When Yahuram died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of Daud. Then his son Ahazyahu became the next king.

Ahazyahu Rules in Yahudah

25 Ahazyahu son of Yahuram began to rule over Yahudah in the twelfth year of the reign of Yuram son of Ahab, king of Yashar'AL.

26 Ahazyahu was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Yahushalam one year. His mother was Athalyahu, a granddaughter of King Umri of Yashar'AL. 

27 Ahazyahu followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family, he did what was evil in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, just as Ahab’s family had done, for he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab.

28 Ahazyahu joined Yuram son of Ahab in his war against King Hazaal of Aram at Ramuth-gilaad. When the Arameans wounded King Yuram in the battle, 

29 he returned to Yazraal to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramuth. Because Yuram was wounded, King Ahazyahu of Yahudah went to Yazraal to visit him.