Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which [was] in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

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.'" '"

So {Ahaziah} sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, " man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

Then Elijah answered and said to the commander of the fifty, "If I [am] a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he {again sent} another commander of fifty and his fifty [men]. He answered and said to him, " man of God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly!'"

Then Elijah answered and said to them, "If I [am] a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he {again sent} a third [time] a commander of fifty and his fifty, and the commander of the third fifty went up and came and knelt down on his knees before Elijah and entreated him. He said to him, " man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes.

Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, "Go down with him. Do not be afraid because of him." So he got up and went down with him to the king,

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.'"

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!"

He took Elijah's cloak that had fallen from upon him and struck the water. Then he said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" So he also struck the water, and it divided {in two}, and Elisha crossed over.

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."

and you shall defeat every fortified city, every choice city, and you shall fell every good tree. All of the springs of water you shall stop up, and every tract of good land you shall ruin with the stones."

The cities they tore down, [on] every good tract of land they threw stones until it was filled up, every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled. They let the stone walls at Kir Hareseth remain, but the slingers surrounded and attacked it.

So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over."

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

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!"

She went up, laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed [the door], and went out behind it.

She called to her husband and said, "Please send one of the servants and one of the female donkeys for me, so that I can go quickly up to the man of God and return."

So she went and came to the man of God by Mount Carmel. It happened when the man of God saw her {at a distance}, he said to Gehazi his servant, "There is this Shunammite.

So she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she caught hold of his feet. Then Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said, "Let her alone, for her soul is bitter, and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me."

Then the mother of the boy said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will surely not leave you." So he got up and went after her.

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].

They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].

A man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought food to the man of God: firstfruits and twenty loaves of barley bread, with ripe grain in his sack. He said, "Give [it] to the people and let them eat."

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."

But Naaman became angry and he went and said, "Look, I said to myself, 'Surely he will come out, stand, call upon the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hands over the spot; then he would take away the skin disease.'

So he went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned as the flesh of a small boy, and he was clean.

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."

But Gehazi the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, "Look, my master has refrained from taking what this Aramean Naaman brought from his hand. {As Yahweh lives}, I will certainly run after him, and I will accept something from him."

He went with them, and they went to the Jordan, and they cut down the trees.

Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" So he showed him the place, and then he cut off a stick and threw [it] there and made the iron ax float.

Then the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Take care while crossing over to this place, because [the] Arameans [are] descending there."

So the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God said to him and warned him, so he was on guard there {continually}.

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?"

Then he said, "May God do to me and thus may he add, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!"

Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh: 'Thus says Yahweh, "At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat bread flour [will sell] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.'"

Then the officer {on whom the king relied} answered the man of God and said, "Look, [even if] Yahweh [is] making windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he said, "Look, you [will be] seeing [it] with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it there."

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!

So they got up and fled at dusk and left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the camp as it was, and they fled for their lives.

Then they said {to one another}, "We [are] not doing right. This day is a day of good news! If we [are] silent and wait until the light of morning, they will find us and {we will be punished}. So then, come, let us go and tell the house of the king."

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.'"

Then the king appointed the officer he was depending on over the gate, but the people trampled him and he died, according to that which the man of God had said which he spoke when the king came down to him.

It happened as the man of God spoke to the king, saying, "Two seahs of barley [shall be sold] for a shekel and a seah of wheat flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria."

Then the officer had replied to the man of God and said, "Look, even if Yahweh is opening the windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he had said, "Look you [are about to] see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it."

So it had happened to him; the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land [for] seven years."

So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and dwelt as an alien in the land of [the] Philistines for seven years.

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."

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 the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go meet the man of God. Inquire of Yahweh from him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this illness?'"

So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand of all of the good things of Damascus, a load [on each] of forty camels, and he came and stood before him. Then he said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, 'Shall I recover from this illness?'"

Then the man {fixed his gaze and stared at him} until he was ashamed and the man of God cried.

He got up and went to the house, and poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'I hereby anoint you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel.

All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off {all males} from Ahab, both bond and free.

Then Joram said, "Get ready," so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite.

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

So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, "We [are] your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do [what] is good in your eyes."

Then the messenger came and told him, saying, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons," and he said, "Put them [in] two piles [at] the entrance of the gate until morning."

But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Yahweh God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam [by] which he caused Israel to sin.

and another third at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the runners, shall guard the post of the palace alternately.

He took the commanders of the hundreds and the Carites and the runners and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the temple of Yahweh. And they marched by the way of the runner's gate [to] the palace of the king, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

[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."

And it happened that they [were] burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. [As he] went [in], the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet!

Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-Shemesh. Then they came [to] Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim up to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits!

Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah, and he came [to] Samaria and struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. Then he became king in place of him.

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel [for] ten years in Samaria.

Only the high places were not removed; the people still [were] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the temple of Yahweh.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the eyes of Yahweh his God as David his ancestor.

Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the water carts and removed from upon them the basin, and the sea he took down from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

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.

The {Israelites} secretly did things which [were] not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city.

But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors who did not believe in Yahweh their God.

They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal.

Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced,

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."

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land."

But Yahweh your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all of your enemies."

He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the {Israelites} were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

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

because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen [to] nor did they obey.

At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.

But if you say to me, 'On Yahweh our God we trust,' [is] it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'In the presence of this altar you shall bow down [only] in Jerusalem?'

Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all of the words of [the] chief commander whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to insult [the] living God, and he will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remainder who are left.'"

"Thus you shall say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, 'Let not your God whom you [are] trusting deceive you, by his saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!"

Then Hezekiah prayed before the face of Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel who lives [above] the cherubim. You [are] God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the world; you have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ears and hear; open, O Yahweh, your eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to insult the living God.

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!"

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'What you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them [were] dead corpses.

It happened that he [was] worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword. Then they escaped [into] the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

"O Yahweh, please remember how I went about before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and [remember] the good that I have done in your eyes." Then Hezekiah {wept bitterly}.

"Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor, "I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I [am about to] heal you. On the third day you shall go up [to] the temple of Yahweh.

Hezekiah heard about them and showed them all of the house of his treasure, both the silver and the gold, the spices, the good olive oil, the room of his weapons, and all that could be found in his treasuries. There was nothing that he did not show them in his palace and in all of his kingdom.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken [is] good," and he thought, "Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?"

therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle.