HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 704
2 KIN G S 8
to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one
was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there
wasn’t a single person around!” 11 Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the
palace.
Israel Plunders the Camp
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 will be no worse 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 six quarts of choice flour were sold that
day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of
barley grain were sold for one piece 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, six quarts of choice flour will cost one
piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain
will cost one piece 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 with your own
eyes, 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!
The Woman from Shunem Returns Home
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 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
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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 about her house and land.
“Look, my lord the king!” 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 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.
Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad
7 Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram,
where King Ben-hadad lay sick. When someone
told the king that the man of God had come,
8 the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift to the man
of God. Then tell him to ask the Lord, ‘Will I
recover from this illness?’”
9 So Hazael loaded down forty camels with
the finest products of Damascus as a gift for
Elisha. He went to him and said, “Your servant
Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to
ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
10 And Elisha replied, “Go and tell him, ‘You
will surely recover.’ But actually the Lord has
shown me that he will surely 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
with the sword, dash their little children to the
ground, and rip open their pregnant women!”
13 Hazael responded, “How could a nobody
like me* ever accomplish such great things?”
Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me
that you are going to be the king of Aram.”
14 When Hazael left Elisha and 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.
Jehoram Rules in Judah
16 Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah
began to rule over Judah in the fifth year of
the reign of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel.
8:11a Hebrew He stared at him. 8:11b The meaning of the
Hebrew is uncertain. 8:13 Hebrew a dog.