Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise and go with your household, sojourning wherever you can, for the Lord has called a famine that will also come upon the land seven years. The woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, going with her household to sojourn in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines to cry out to the king for her house and her land. The king spoke with Gehazi, Elisha's servant, saying, "Tell me about all the remarkable things that Elisha has done. As Gehazi was recounting to the king how Elisha had restored life to the dead man, the woman whose son he had revived cried out to the king on behalf of her house and land.

And when the king asked her, she told him; so he appointed a certain officer to restore all that was hers and all the fruits of the field since the day she left the land until now. Elisha came to Damascus, where Benhadad the king of Syria was sick and had been told that the man of God had arrived.

The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go meet the man of God, asking him through the Lord whether I will recover from this disease." Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of every good thing from Damascus, forty camels' burden, and said, "Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

Elisha said to him, "Go, tell him, 'You will surely recover,' but the Lord has shown me that he will certainly die." He fixed his gaze steadily on Hazael until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. Hazael said, "Why do you weep, my lord?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will slay with the sword, and dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.

Hazael said, "But what, is my servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Syria." Hazael departed from Elisha and came to his master, who asked him what Elisha had said, and he replied that Elisha had told him Hazael's master would surely recover.

On the next day, he took a cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over his face until he died; then Hazael succeeded him as king. In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.

Thirty-two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, following the path of Ahab's household, since he was married to Ahab's daughter and did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord would not destroy Judah because of his covenant promise to David, giving him a lasting light and to his children.

In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves. Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose up at night to strike the Edomites who surrounded him and their captains; the people fled into their tents.

Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day, and Libnah also revolted at that same time. The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David, where Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign in Jerusalem; his mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, just as the house of Ahab had done, since he was married into that family.

Joram went to war with Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramothgilead, and the Syrians wounded him. King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds inflicted by the Syrians at Ramah, where he had fought against Hazael king of Syria. Meanwhile, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Joram in Jezreel because he was ill.