Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Since he had no son, Joram became king in his place. This happened in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat.

Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?”

He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?”

He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood facing them from a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan.

When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.

Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are 50 strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.”

He answered, “Don’t send them.”

Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria during the eighteenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat and reigned 12 years.

Nevertheless, Joram clung to the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit. He did not turn away from them.

But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here? Let’s inquire of Yahweh through him.”

One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat, who used to pour water on Elijah’s hands, is here.”

So he took his firstborn son, who was to become king in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. Great wrath was on the Israelites, and they withdrew from him and returned to their land.

One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”

Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.”

So she left.

After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.

When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”

But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.

She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”

So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?”

Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

Elisha said, “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.”

Then she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not deceive your servant.”

The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her.

Run out to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’”

And she answered, “Everything’s all right.”

Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” He called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”

She came, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; she picked up her son and left.

When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet. He said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and make stew for the sons of the prophets.”

Gehazi said, “It’s all right. My master has sent me to say, ‘I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them 75 pounds of silver and two changes of clothes.’”

The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please notice that the place where we live under your supervision is too small for us.

Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.’

So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”

He announced, “May God punish me and do so severely if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”

Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get ready, you and your household, and go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the Lord has announced a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”

While he was telling the king how Elisha restored the dead son to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life came to appeal to the king for her house and field. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”

Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift: 40 camel-loads of all kinds of goods from Damascus. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son, Ben-hadad king of Aram, has sent me to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

In the fifth year of Israel’s King Joram son of Ahab, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah, replacing his father.

The Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah because of His servant David, since He had promised to give a lamp to David and his sons forever.

Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

In the twelfth year of Israel’s King Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law to Ahab’s family.

Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram in Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.

So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael. Then Judah’s King Ahaziah son of Jehoram went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab since Joram was ill.

The prophet Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets and said, “Tuck your mantle under your belt, take this flask of oil with you, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his colleagues, and take him to an inner room.

I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.

Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Joram and all Israel had been at Ramoth-gilead on guard against Hazael king of Aram.

Again the watchman reported, “He reached them but hasn’t started back. Also, the driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a madman.”

‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘so will I repay you on this plot of land’—this is the Lord’s declaration. So now, according to the word of the Lord, pick him up and throw him on the plot of land.”

It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.

Since Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria, Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab’s sons, saying:

When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weaponry,

select the most qualified of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.

Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying:

If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, bring me the heads of your master’s sons at this time tomorrow at Jezreel.

All 70 of the king’s sons were being cared for by the city’s prominent men.

When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all 70, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” the king said, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”

Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?”

They answered, “We’re Ahaziah’s relatives. We’ve come down to greet the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons.”

When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him and then asked, “Is your heart one with mine?”

“It is,” Jehonadab replied.

Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.”

So he gave him his hand, and Jehu pulled him up into the chariot with him.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look carefully to see that there are no servants of the Lord here among you—only servants of Baal.”

but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.

Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz became king in his place.

When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, secretly rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. So he was hidden from Athaliah and was not killed.

Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent messengers and brought in the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards. He had them come to him in the Lord’s temple, where he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son

He brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and cried, “Long live the king!”

His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. Then they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Amaziah became king in his place.

In the twenty-third year of Judah’s King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned 17 years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He surrendered them to the power of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad during their reigns.

Jehoahaz rested with his fathers, and he was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash became king in his place.

In the thirty-seventh year of Judah’s King Joash, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned 16 years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them.

King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Ben-hadad became king in his place.

Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in war from Jehoash’s father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times and recovered the cities of Israel.

In the second year of Israel’s King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah.

Amaziah then sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet face to face.”

King Jehoash of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon once sent a message to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down 200 yards of Jerusalem’s wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

Jehoash rested with his fathers, and he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash lived 15 years after the death of Israel’s King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz.

In the fifteenth year of Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria and reigned 41 years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He did not turn away from all the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

He restored Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word the Lord, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher.

However, the Lord had not said He would blot out the name of Israel under heaven, so He delivered them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.

Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. His son Zechariah became king in his place.

In the twenty-seventh year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Azariah son of Amaziah became king of Judah.

The Lord afflicted the king, and he had a serious skin disease until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, while Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household governing the people of the land.

Azariah rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His son Jotham became king in his place.

In the thirty-eighth year of Judah’s King Azariah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah. He struck him down publicly, killed him, and became king in his place.

The word of the Lord that He spoke to Jehu was, “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel,” and it was so.

In the thirty-ninth year of Judah’s King Uzziah, Shallum son of Jabesh became king; he reigned in Samaria a full month.

Then Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah to Samaria and struck down Shallum son of Jabesh there. He killed him and became king in his place.

In the thirty-ninth year of Judah’s King Azariah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned 10 years in Samaria.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. Throughout his reign, he did not turn away from the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

Menahem rested with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place.

In the fiftieth year of Judah’s King Azariah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned two years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and did not turn away from the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

Then his officer, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him and struck him down in Samaria at the citadel of the king’s palace —as well as Argob and Arieh. There were 50 Gileadite men with Pekah. He killed Pekahiah and became king in his place.

In the fifty-second year of Judah’s King Azariah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned 20 years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He did not turn away from the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.

Then Hoshea son of Elah organized a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked him, killed him, and became king in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

In the second year of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham son of Uzziah became king of Judah.