2 Kings 7

• 1. Elisha replied, "Hear this message from the LORD! This is what the LORD says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, five quarts of fine flour will cost only half an ounce of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain will cost only half an ounce of silver. "
• 2. The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, "That couldn't happen even if the LORD opened the windows of heaven!" But Elisha replied, "You will see it happen, but you won't be able to eat any of it!"
• 3. Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. "Why should we sit here waiting to die?" they asked each other.
• 4. "We will starve if we stay here, and we will starve if we go back into the city. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway."
• 5. So that evening they went out to the camp of the Arameans, but no one was there!
• 6. For the Lord had caused the whole army of Aram to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. "The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!" they cried out.
• 7. So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, and they fled for their lives.
• 8. When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it.
• 9. Finally, they said to each other, "This is not right. This is wonderful news, and we aren't sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let's go back and tell the people at the palace."
• 10. So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened--that they had gone out to the Aramean camp and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there was not a single person around.
• 11. Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.
• 12. The king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers, "I know what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to leave the city, and then they will take us alive and capture the city."
• 13. One of his officers replied, "We had better send out scouts to check into this. Let them take five of the remaining horses. If something happens to them, it won't be a greater loss than if they stay here and die with the rest of us."
• 14. So two chariots with horses were prepared, and the king sent scouts to see what had happened to the Aramean army.
• 15. They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it.
• 16. Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that five quarts of fine flour were sold that day for half an ounce of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain were sold for half an ounce of silver, just as the LORD had promised.
• 17. The king appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was knocked down and trampled to death as the people rushed out. So everything happened exactly as the man of God had predicted when the king came to his house.
• 18. The man of God had said to the king, "By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, five quarts of fine flour will cost half an ounce of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain will cost half an ounce of silver."
• 19. The king's officer had replied, "That couldn't happen even if the LORD opened the windows of heaven!" And the man of God had said, "You will see it happen, but you won't be able to eat any of it!"
• 20. And so it was, for the people trampled him to death at the gate!

2 Kings 8

• 1. Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, "Take your family and move to some other place, for the LORD has called for a famine on Israel that will last for seven years."
• 2. So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
• 3. After the famine ended she returned to the land of Israel, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land.
• 4. As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, "Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done."
• 5. And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha 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. "Look, my lord!" Gehazi exclaimed. "Here is the woman now, and this is her son--the very one Elisha brought back to life!"
• 6. "Is this true?" the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.
• 7. Now Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ben-hadad lay sick. Someone told the king that the man of God had come.
• 8. When the king heard the news, he said to Hazael, "Take a gift to the man of God. Then tell him to ask the LORD if I will get well again."
• 9. So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went in to him and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask you if he will recover."
• 10. And Elisha replied, "Go and tell him, `You will recover.' But the LORD has shown me that he will actually die!"
• 11. Elisha stared at Hazael with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy. Then the man of God started weeping.
• 12. "What's the matter, my lord?" Hazael asked him. Elisha replied, "I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men, dash their children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!"
• 13. Then Hazael replied, "How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such a great feat?" But Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram."
• 14. When Hazael went back, the king asked him, "What did Elisha tell you?" And Hazael replied, "He told me that you will surely recover."
• 15. But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king's face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram.
• 16. Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to rule over Judah in the fifth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. Joram was the son of Ahab.
• 17. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
• 18. But Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab's daughters. So Jehoram did what was evil in the LORD's sight.
• 19. But the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for he had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule forever.
• 20. During Jehoram's reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king.
• 21. So Jehoram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his charioteers, but he escaped at night under cover of darkness. Jehoram's army, however, deserted him and fled.
• 22. Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah revolted about that same time.
• 23. The rest of the events in Jehoram's reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.
• 24. When Jehoram died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Ahaziah became the next king.
• 25. Ahaziah son of Jehoram began to rule over Judah in the twelfth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. King Joram was the son of Ahab.
• 26. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel.
• 27. Ahaziah followed the evil example of King Ahab's family, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight, because he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab.
• 28. Ahaziah joined King Joram of Israel in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When King Joram was wounded in the battle,
• 29. he returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds. While Joram was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him.

2 Kings 9

• 1. Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. "Get ready to go to Ramoth-gilead," he told him. "Take this vial of olive oil with you,
• 2. and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Call him into a back room away from his friends,
• 3. and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.' Then open the door and run for your life!"
• 4. So the young prophet did as he was told and went to Ramoth-gilead.
• 5. When he arrived there, he found Jehu sitting in a meeting with the other army officers. "I have a message for you, Commander," he said. "For which one of us?" Jehu asked. "For you, Commander," he replied.
• 6. So Jehu left the others and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the oil over Jehu's head and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the LORD's people, Israel.
• 7. You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the LORD's servants who were killed by Jezebel.
• 8. The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out--every male, slave and free alike, in Israel.
• 9. I will destroy the family of Ahab as I destroyed the families of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah.
• 10. Dogs will eat Ahab's wife, Jezebel, at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her." Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.
• 11. Jehu went back to his fellow officers, and one of them asked him, "What did that crazy fellow want? Is everything all right?You know the way such a man babbles on," Jehu replied.
• 12. "You're lying," they said. "Tell us." So Jehu told them what the man had said and that at the LORD's command he had been anointed king over Israel.
• 13. They quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew a trumpet, shouting, "Jehu is king!"
• 14. So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi formed a conspiracy against King Joram. (Now Joram had been with the army at Ramoth-gilead, defending Israel against the forces of King Hazael of Aram.
• 15. But Joram had been wounded in the fighting and had returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds.) So Jehu told the men with him, "Since you want me to be king, don't let anyone escape to Jezreel to report what we have done."
• 16. Then Jehu got into a chariot and rode to Jezreel to find King Joram, who was lying there wounded. King Ahaziah of Judah was there, too, for he had gone to visit him.
• 17. The watchman on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu and his company approaching, so he shouted to Joram, "I see a company of troops coming!Send out a rider to find out if they are coming in peace," King Joram shouted back.
• 18. So a rider went out to meet Jehu and said, "The king wants to know whether you are coming in peace." Jehu replied, "What do you know about peace? Get behind me!" The watchman called out to the king, "The rider has met them, but he is not returning."
• 19. So the king sent out a second rider. He rode up to them and demanded, "The king wants to know whether you come in peace." Again Jehu answered, "What do you know about peace? Get behind me!"
• 20. The watchman exclaimed, "The rider has met them, but he isn't returning either! It must be Jehu son of Nimshi, for he is driving so recklessly."
• 21. "Quick! Get my chariot ready!" King Joram commanded. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah rode out in their chariots to meet Jehu. They met him at the field that had belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.
• 22. King Joram demanded, "Do you come in peace, Jehu?" Jehu replied, "How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?"
• 23. Then King Joram reined the chariot horses around and fled, shouting to King Ahaziah, "Treason, Ahaziah!"
• 24. Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he sank down dead in his chariot.
• 25. Jehu said to Bidkar, his officer, "Throw him into the field of Naboth of Jezreel. Do you remember when you and I were riding along behind his father, Ahab? The LORD pronounced this message against him:
• 26. `I solemnly swear that I will repay him here on Naboth's property, says the LORD, for the murder of Naboth and his sons that I saw yesterday.' So throw him out on Naboth's field, just as the LORD said."
• 27. When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled along the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu rode after him, shouting, "Shoot him, too!" So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot at the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam. He was able to go on as far as Megiddo, but he died there.
• 28. His officials took him by chariot to Jerusalem, where they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David.
• 29. Ahaziah's reign over Judah had begun in the eleventh year of King Joram's reign in Israel.
• 30. When Jezebel, the queen mother, heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel, she painted her eyelids and fixed her hair and sat at a window.
• 31. When Jehu entered the gate of the palace, she shouted at him, "Have you come in peace, you murderer? You are just like Zimri, who murdered his master!"
• 32. Jehu looked up and saw her at the window and shouted, "Who is on my side?" And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
• 33. "Throw her down!" Jehu yelled. So they threw her out the window, and some of her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses' hooves.
• 34. Then Jehu went into the palace and ate and drank. Afterward he said, "Someone go and bury this cursed woman, for she is the daughter of a king."
• 35. But when they went out to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet, and her hands.
• 36. When they returned and told Jehu, he stated, "This fulfills the message from the LORD, which he spoke through his servant Elijah from Tishbe: `At the plot of land in Jezreel, dogs will eat Jezebel's flesh.
• 37. Her body will be scattered like dung on the field of Jezreel, so that no one will be able to recognize her.'"

New Living Translation: 111 of 324 days.