2 Kings 8

¹¹I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

³¹Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

³²When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.

¹In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.

¹⁶He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.

¹⁸And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

⁸If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

¹David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

²So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

⁴When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

³And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men,

¹³and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied.

³Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

⁴Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.

⁶When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.”

²⁰Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

²¹So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”

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.

¹⁶And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”

¹⁷But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased. He had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had heard about Him and was hoping to see Him perform a miracle.

¹⁴So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.

⁸And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

³⁵Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

¹¹I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

¹¹So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!”

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

²⁷So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

⁷When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.

¹The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the Lord; He directs it where He pleases.

⁷“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

³²He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

¹Now David summoned all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials and mighty men—every mighty man of valor.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

²⁴and had gathered men to himself. When David killed the Zobaites, Rezon captained a band of raiders and went to Damascus, where they settled and gained control.

²⁴Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

¹Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

⁸For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.

¹⁸So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this message to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus:

⁶But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

⁷“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

³⁰Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

⁵“Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

⁶They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”

¹⁴When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

⁷So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”

⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁵“Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

²¹And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

⁴Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.

¹This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.

¹Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

¹This is what the Lord God showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.

⁴This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

⁷This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

²I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

¹³⁶My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

¹⁸Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.

¹Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

¹⁶Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

¹⁰Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

¹⁶At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.

¹⁷At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.

³So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.

¹³This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.

⁴³“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

⁸Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs.

¹Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

¹⁶For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.

¹⁰Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the Lord has shown me that in fact he will die.”

¹⁶So from then on Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

²⁵When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.

¹³“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down upon himself. So he died

²⁵Then his officer, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him along with Argob, Arieh, and fifty men of Gilead. And at the citadel of the king’s palace in Samaria, Pekah struck down and killed Pekahiah and reigned in his place.

³⁰Then Hoshea son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah. In the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah, Hoshea attacked Pekah, killed him, and reigned in his place.

¹Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

²⁶Now Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon, but he rebelled against the king,

²⁷and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

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.

¹In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Jehoram son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria twelve years.

¹And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

²Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; these were all sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

⁵⁰And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

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

⁶And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord.

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

²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He removed the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.

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

¹⁶You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

¹Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place, since the raiders who had come into the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

²Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

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.

¹Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

³⁶I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.

¹²And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁵But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

⁹I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man—the Holy One among you—and I will not come in wrath.

³⁵‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”

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

²²So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time.

²⁷So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.

⁴⁰You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”

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.

¹⁷They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,

⁸When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁴⁰You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”

¹⁰So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled against his hand at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.

⁶As for the rest of the acts of Azariah, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁹As for the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, along with all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²³Now the rest of the acts of Asa, along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In his old age, however, he became diseased in his feet.

⁴¹As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

¹¹Jehoram had also built high places on the hills of Judah; he had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

¹²Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, which stated: “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah,

³⁶As for the rest of the acts of Jotham, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

¹⁷So they went to war against Judah, invaded it, and carried off all the possessions found in the king’s palace, along with his sons and wives; not a son was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest.

⁶So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

²³There at Beth-shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section of four hundred cubits.

¹And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

³¹And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.

²⁰And the length of Jeroboam’s reign was twenty-two years, and he rested with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

²⁹(In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)

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.

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

²⁰Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

²Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise from the guards and the people, she went out to the people in the house of the Lord.

¹⁴And she looked out and saw the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom. The officers and trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

⁵Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

⁶So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

²¹“Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

²²When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

¹When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

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.

¹⁸And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord.

⁵Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

²⁹So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

¹²“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

⁷And he sent a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” “I will go,” replied Jehoshaphat. “I am as you are, my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.”

¹⁵but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

¹⁵But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.

¹⁵but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

¹⁶Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

³⁴However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

²⁸Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.

⁵Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

⁶So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.