Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, "Get up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and speak to them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you [are] going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?'

Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you [are] sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.'" '"

and he said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron--is it because there is no God in Israel [from whom] to inquire his word?--therefore the bed upon which you went, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.'"

So he died, according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken, and Joram became king in his place in the second year of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, because he had no son.

Then the sons of the prophets who [were in] Bethel came out to Elisha, and they said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh [is] going to take your master {from you} today?" He said, "I also know; be quiet!"

Then the sons of the prophets who [were] in Jericho came near to Elisha, and they said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh [is] going to take your master {from you} today?" He said, "I also know; be quiet!"

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Please now, the location of the city [is] good, as my master can see, but the water [is] bad and the land unproductive."

So he said, "Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

Then he went out to the spring of waters and threw the salt [into it] there and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'I hereby purify these waters; let there be no longer any death or unproductiveness from it.'"

Now Joram the son of Ahab had become king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He reigned twelve years

Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he used to deliver to the king of Israel a hundred thousand male lambs and a hundred thousand wool rams.

So the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went around, a way of seven days, but there was no water for the army or for the animals which {were with them}.

Then Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might inquire [guidance] from Yahweh?" One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."

Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "{What do we have in common}? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." Then the king of Israel said to him, "No, for Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab."

But now, bring me a musician." It happened that at the moment the musician played, the hand of Yahweh came upon him.

Now all of Moab had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, and all {who were fighting age and up} were called up, and they stood at the border.

Then they said, "This [is] blood! Certainly the kings have fought one another, and each has killed his neighbor. Now, to the war booty, O Moab!"

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

She said to her husband, "Please now, I know that he [is] a holy man of God who is passing {our way} regularly;

Then he said, "What may be done for her?" Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old."

And he said, "At this time {next spring}, you [will be] embracing a son." She said, "No, my lord, man of God! You must not tell a lie to your servant!"

And he said, "Why are you going to him today? [It is] neither the new moon nor the Sabbath!" And she said, "Peace."

Now, please run to meet her and ask her, 'Is it peace for you? Is it peace for your husband? Is it peace for the boy?'" She said, "Peace."

Gehazi crossed over before them, and he put the staff on the face of the boy; but there was no sound, and there was no sign of life, so he returned to meet him. He told him, saying, "The boy did not wake up."

So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.

One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were].

Now Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man before his master and {highly regarded}, for by him Yahweh had given victory to Aram. Now the man was a mighty warrior, [but he was] afflicted with a skin disease.

So he brought the letter of the king to Israel, saying, "Now, when this letter comes to you, I have just sent Naaman my servant to you that you may cure him from his skin disease."

It happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to cause death or to give life? This man [is] sending a man to me to cure his disease. Indeed! But know and see that he seeks an opportunity against me."

It happened that as soon as Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why did you tear your clothes? Please may he come to me, that he might know that there is a prophet in Israel."

When he returned to the man of God, he and all of his army, he came and stood before him and said, "Please now, I know that there is no God in all of the world except in Israel. So then, please take a gift from your servant."

He said, "Peace. My master has sent me saying, 'Look, {just now} two servants from the hill country of Ephraim came to me, from the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

It happened as the one [was] felling the log, that the iron ax fell into the water. He called out and said, "Oh, no! My master, it was borrowed!"

Then one of his servants said, "No, my lord the king, but Elisha the prophet who is [in] Israel tells the king of Israel things which you speak {in your own bedchamber}."

The attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and look, the army [was] surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What shall we do?"

He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. {How} can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?"

It happened that when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he had been walking on the wall, and the people saw, and behold, sackcloth was over his flesh underneath.

Now Elisha [was] sitting in his house and the elders [were] sitting with him, and [the king] dispatched a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Did you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door; and you must {hold the door closed against him}. [Is] not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?"

Now four men who had a skin disease were [at] the entrance of the gate, and they said {to each other}, "Why [are] we sitting here until we die?

So they got up at dusk to go to the camp of [the] Arameans. They went up to the edge of the camp of [the] Arameans, and look, there was no man there!

Now the Lord had caused the camp of [the] Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, and the sound of a great army. So they said {to one another}, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!"

When they came, they called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, "We came to the camp of [the] Arameans, and behold, there was no man or the voice of a man there! Only the horses and the donkeys were tied up, and the tents [were left] as they [were]."

The king got up in the night and said to his servants, "Please let me tell you what [the] Arameans have done to us. [The] Arameans know that we [are] hungry, so they went out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, 'When they go out from the city, we shall seize them alive and go into the city.'"

Now the king [was] speaking to Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all of the great things which Elisha has done."

So the king asked the woman, and she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain court official, saying, "Restore all that [is] hers and all the yield of the field from [the] day she left the land up to now."

Elisha came [to] Damascus. Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram [was] ill, and he was told, "The man of God has come up here."

Then Hazael asked, "Why [is] my lord crying?" He said, "Because I know what evil you will do to the {Israelites}. You will {set their fortifications on fire}, and you will kill their young men with the sword. Their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open!"

Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah.

Now Elisha the prophet called for one of the sons of the prophets, and he said to him, "Gird your loins, and take this flask of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead.

Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, "Peace? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the man and his foolish talk."

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the {threat} of Hazael king of Aram.

Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?"

Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, "[Is it] peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?"

"Now, when this letter comes to you and your master's sons [are] with you, the chariots [are] with you, the horses, a fortified city, and weapons,

Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, "If you [are] for me, and you [are] listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at [this] time tomorrow at Jezreel." Now the sons of the king, seventy men, [were] with the leaders of the city who were raising them.

Know then that {the word of Yahweh will not fail} which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab; Yahweh has done what he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah.

Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him.

So then, summon to me all of the prophets of Baal and all of his servants and his priests; no man should fail to come, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come shall not live!" Now Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, "The man who lets [anyone] escape from the men who I am {entrusting to you}, {he will pay with his life}!"

It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all of his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Now the days which Jehu had reigned over Israel [were] twenty-eight years in Samaria.

Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, so she prepared to destroy all of the offspring of the royal family.

So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it."

Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?

For there was no army left over for Jehoahaz except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them as the dust at threshing.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

[Yet] the man of God became angry against him and said, "For striking five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram until finishing [them], but now you will defeat Aram [only] three times."

Elisha died and they buried him. Now the raiding parties of Moab came {in the spring}.

But Yahweh had mercy on them and showed compassion to them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them nor cast them from his presence up to now.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his powerful [deeds], and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

For Yahweh saw that the misery of Israel was very bitter, whether bond or free, but there was no helper for Israel.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his powerful [deeds], how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath of Judah to Israel, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Now the remainder of the acts of Zechariah, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Now the remainder of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he conspired; look, they [are] written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Now the remainder of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Now the remainder of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jotham which he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?

(Now, in those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.)

Now the bronze altar which was before Yahweh, he brought over from the front of the temple, from between [his] altar and the temple of Yahweh, and he placed it at the side of [his] altar to the north.

Now the remainder of the acts of Ahaz which he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?

Now [this] happened because the {Israelites} had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods.

So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land."

He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah.

You think only a word of lips, '[I have] advice and power for the war.' Now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me?

Now, look! You {rely} on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which [when] a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it! So [is] Pharaoh the king of Egypt for all who are trusting on him!

Have I now come up against this place without Yahweh to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'" '"

Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that [you may] live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you [by] saying, "Yahweh will deliver us!"

They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'A day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace is this day, for the children {are about to be born}, but there is no strength to bear them.

So then, O Yahweh our God, rescue us, please, from his hand, that all of the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Yahweh, you alone are God!"

Have you not heard? From long ago I have determined it, from the days of old I have planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. It shall be turned into a pile of rocks; fortified cities are ruined.

Your sitting, your going out, and your coming [in] I know, and your raging against me.

Hezekiah answered, "It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backwards ten steps."

Now the remainder of the acts of Hezekiah, all of his powerful [deeds], and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she [was] living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her,

So Josiah said, "Let him rest and let no man move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land.

In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart which Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels.