2 Kings 3

¹⁷So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah.

⁵¹In the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria two years.

¹⁶In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah.

¹⁸Then Jehu brought all the people together and said, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot.

²⁶They brought out the sacred pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it.

²⁷They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.

²⁵(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, incited by his wife Jezebel.

²⁴You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

³⁴Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”

⁵Soon his wife Jezebel came in and asked, “Why are you so sullen that you refuse to eat?”

⁶Ahab answered, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and told him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ And he replied, ‘I will not give you my vineyard!’”

¹⁶So He will give Israel over on account of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”

²⁶And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.

¹⁸And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and throughout his reign he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

³⁴And Baasha did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.

²⁴And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

⁹And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

¹³and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.

¹⁴He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

²David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.

³and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

²David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to David and brought him tribute.

⁸Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

¹After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

²⁰In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.

⁸In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.

⁹So Jehoram crossed into Edom with his officers and all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night.

²⁷The Israelites also mobilized, gathered supplies, and marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped before them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

⁴So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

⁸And when Saul numbered them at Bezek, there were 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 men of Judah.

¹Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”

⁴So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.”

³Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people are your people; we will join you in the war.”

¹⁰When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.

¹¹But Jehoshabeath daughter of King Jehoram took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she could not kill him.

³Ahaziah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in wickedness.

⁴And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for to his destruction they were his counselors after the death of his father.

²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³⁰Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

⁴When Jehoram had established himself over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened himself by putting to the sword all his brothers along with some of the princes of Israel.

⁵Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

²“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved,

³but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey

⁴⁷And there was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and Aaron.

¹⁴They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

²⁷and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”

⁴Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

¹³But Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

³A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

²⁰Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.

³³While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

²¹They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.

⁷But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here of whom we can inquire?”

²¹So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. Using the oxen’s equipment for fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.

³Nevertheless, he clung to the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

²⁵And Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

⁹There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the Lord our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

²¹and Elisha went out to the spring, cast the salt into it, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will it cause death or unfruitfulness.’”

²³Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

²⁵And Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

¹⁴Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵When the sons of the prophets who were watching him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

¹⁹And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

²⁰So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

¹⁵Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

⁶So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

¹⁹Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

¹⁰“Alas,” said the king of Israel, “for the Lord has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab!”

²²And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

²³So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.”

³⁷He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

³⁸which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!

¹⁰Dressed in royal attire, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.

¹¹Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”

¹⁶But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

¹⁸Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

³However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

⁴Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁵But the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill. You are to say such and such to her, because when she arrives, she will be disguised.”

⁶So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? For I have been sent to you with bad news.

³Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,

⁴but he sought the God of his father and walked by His commandments rather than the practices of Israel.

²³And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play. Then Saul would find relief and feel better, and the spirit of distress would depart from him.

¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,

⁵After that you will come to Gibeah of God, where the Philistines have an outpost. As you approach the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

³the word of the Lord came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the Lord’s hand was upon him.

⁴⁶And the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

¹In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord God fell upon me.

³⁵He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.

¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.

¹⁹Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

²⁰The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

⁶As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; even the autumn rain covers it with pools.

⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

³⁷For no word from God will ever fail.”

²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?

¹⁷“Oh, Lord God! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!

¹⁰“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

⁶He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

³Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

¹⁶“Surely I will be with you,” the Lord replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷“Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.”

²⁵They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth was left with stones in place, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.

¹⁷I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

²So David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

³⁹Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight.

⁴⁰With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.

⁶Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

⁷The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

³⁶At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.

²⁰When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

¹⁵He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

¹⁶He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

²¹while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

¹¹And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”

¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

²⁵Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.

⁹The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

¹⁸As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

⁶For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”

¹⁴My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁴But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.

⁴⁰But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.

⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them.

²⁰When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

³⁶Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.

³¹Therefore I will wail for Moab; I will cry out for all of Moab; I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

⁷Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken.

¹⁹And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.”

¹¹Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.

¹⁵So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.

⁹So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and after they had traveled a roundabout route for seven days, they had no water for their army or for their animals.

⁷Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

³¹You must not worship the Lord your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

³¹then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

²⁰You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.