1 Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had brought back to life: "Get up and go away with your household, and live as a foreigner wherever you can, because the LORD has summoned a famine, and it is coming on the land for seven years."
2 The woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She and her household went and lived as foreigners in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
3 When the seven years were over, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and her land.
4 The king happened to be talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. "Tell me," he was saying, "about all the great things Elisha has done."
5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead boy back to life, the woman whose son he had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life."
6 The king questioned the woman, and she told him the story. Then the king assigned an official to her case, saying, "Give back everything that belonged to her, along with all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."
7 Elisha went to Damascus at a time when Ben-hadad king of Syria was ill. When the king was told, "The man of God has come all the way here,"
8 he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him: 'Will I get over this illness?'"
9 Hazael went to meet him, taking along a gift of every fine thing from Damascus, forty camel-loads. He came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to ask you, 'Will I get over this illness?'"
10 Elisha told him, "Go and say to him, 'You will surely recover.' But the LORD has shown me that he will surely die."
11 He kept his face fixed in a stare until he was ashamed, and then the man of God began to weep.
12 "Why is my lord weeping?" asked Hazael. "Because I know the evil you will do to the children of Israel," he answered. "You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to pieces and rip open their pregnant women."
13 Hazael said, "But what is your servant, a dog, that he could do such a great thing?" Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Syria."
14 Then he left Elisha and went back to his master, who asked him, "What did Elisha tell you?" He answered, "He told me you would surely recover."
15 But the next day he took the blanket, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face until he died. And Hazael reigned in his place.
16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.
17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab's house had done, for he was married to Ahab's daughter; he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
19 But the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, since he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp for all time.
20 During his reign Edom revolted against Judah's rule and made a king for themselves.
21 So Joram went over to Zair with all his chariots. Rising by night, he attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the chariot commanders, and the army fled to their tents.
22 And Edom has remained in revolt against Judah's rule to this day. Libnah revolted at that same time as well.
23 As for the rest of the deeds of Joram and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
24 Joram lay down with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king.
26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.
27 He walked in the way of Ahab's house and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had, since he was related by marriage to Ahab's house.
28 He joined Joram son of Ahab in war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram.
29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Syrians had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab, because he was ill.