They replied, “A man came to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him: This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sickbed—you will certainly die.’”

They replied, “A hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.”

He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”

and Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me on to Bethel.”

But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; the Lord is sending me to Jericho.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.”

So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.”

As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind.

Then he took the mantle Elijah had dropped and struck the waters. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the waters himself, and they parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over.

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.

However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” They sent 50 men, who looked for three days but did not find him.

When they returned to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.”

After they had brought him one,

So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out. After they had traveled their indirect route for seven days, they had no water for the army or their animals.

When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and the Moabites saw that the water across from them was red like blood.

“This is blood!” they exclaimed. “The kings have clashed swords and killed each other. So, to the spoil, Moab!”

However, when the Moabites came to Israel’s camp, the Israelites attacked them, and they fled from them. So Israel went into the land and struck down the Moabites.

They destroyed the cities, and each of them threw stones to cover every good piece of land. They stopped up every spring of water and cut down every good tree. In the end, only the buildings of Kir-hareseth were left. Then men with slings surrounded the city and attacked it.

When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took 700 swordsmen with him to try to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not do it.

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.

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.

One went out to the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment would hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, but they were unaware of what they were.

They served some for the men to eat, but when they ate the stew they cried out, “There’s death in the pot, man of God!” And they were unable to eat it.

But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set 20 loaves before 100 men?”

“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’”

So he gave it to them, and as the Lord had promised, they ate and had some left over.

When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from them and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they left.

So he went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes. They looked and discovered they were in Samaria.

Elisha replied, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill those you have captured with your sword or your bow? Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.”

So he prepared a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Aramean raiders did not come into Israel’s land again.

So there was a great famine in Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey’s head sold for 80 silver shekels, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five silver shekels.

Four men with a skin disease were at the entrance to the gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die?

If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s go to the Arameans’ camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that there was not a single man there,

So they had gotten up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.

When these men came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them. They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them.

Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will catch up with us. Let’s go tell the king’s household.”

So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.’”

So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

When Jehu came out to his master’s servants, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this crazy person come to you?”

Then he said to them, “You know the sort and their ranting.”

But they replied, “That’s a lie! Tell us!”

So Jehu said, “He talked to me about this and that and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

Each man quickly took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. They blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

“Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu at the plot of land of Naboth the Jezreelite.

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot him in his chariot at Gur Pass near Ibleam, but he fled to Megiddo and died there.

and he said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and Jehu rode over her.

But when they went out to bury her, they did not find anything but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

So they went back and told him, and he said, “This fulfills the Lord’s word that He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, the dogs will eat Jezebel’s flesh.

However, they were terrified and reasoned, “Look, two kings couldn’t stand against him; how can we?”

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.”

Then Jehu ordered, “Take them alive.” So they took them alive and then slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked—42 men. He didn’t spare any of them.

Jehu commanded, “Consecrate a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they called one.

Then Jehu sent messengers throughout all Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; there was not a man left who did not come. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from one end to the other.

Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had stationed 80 men outside, and he warned them, “Whoever allows any of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape will forfeit his life for theirs.”

When he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them. Don’t let anyone out.” So they struck them down with the sword. Then the guards and officers threw the bodies out and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.

They brought out the pillars of the temple of Baal and burned them

and tore down the pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it a latrine—which it is to this day.

So the commanders of hundreds did everything Jehoiada the priest commanded. They each brought their men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—and went to Jehoiada the priest.

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!”

So they arrested her, and she went through the horse entrance to the king’s palace, where she was put to death.

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people and another covenant between the king and the people.

So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke its altars and images into pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.

Then Jehoiada the priest appointed guards for the Lord’s temple.

He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They entered the king’s palace by way of the guards’ gate. Then Joash sat on the throne of the kings.

All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword in the king’s palace.

So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple’s damage.

Whenever they saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest would go to the Lord’s temple and count the money found there and tie it up in bags.

Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the Lord’s temple—the carpenters, the builders,

Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the Lord’s temple with it.

No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity.

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.

Therefore, the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped from the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel dwelt in their tents as before,

but they didn’t turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. Jehoahaz walked in them, and the Asherah pole also remained standing in Samaria.

Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a raiding party, so they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. When he touched Elisha’s bones, the man revived and stood up!

A conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. However, men were sent after him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

They carried him back on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

As for the rest of the events of Zechariah’s reign, they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

As for the rest of the events of Shallum’s reign, along with the conspiracy that he formed, they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

At that time, starting from Tirzah, Menahem attacked Tiphsah, all who were in it, and its territory. Because they wouldn’t surrender, he attacked it and ripped open all the pregnant women.

As for the rest of the events of Pekahiah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

As for the rest of the events of Pekah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

Then Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah came to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but were not able to conquer him.

At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judahites from Elath. Then the Arameans came to Elath, and they live there until today.

To satisfy the king of Assyria, he removed from the Lord’s temple the Sabbath canopy they had built in the palace, and he closed the outer entrance for the king.

This disaster happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they had worshiped other gods.

They had lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites and the customs the kings of Israel had introduced.

The Israelites secretly did what was not right against the Lord their God. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city.

They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

They burned incense on all the high places just like those nations that the Lord had driven out before them. They did evil things, provoking the Lord.

They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.”

But they would not listen. Instead they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the Lord their God.

They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors and the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.

They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They worshiped the whole heavenly host and served Baal.

They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight and provoked Him.

When they first lived there, they did not fear Yahweh. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear Yahweh.

But the people of each nation were still making their own gods in the cities where they lived and putting them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made.

They feared the Lord, but they also appointed from their number priests to serve them in the shrines of the high places.

They feared the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the custom of the nations where they had been deported from.

They are still practicing the former customs to this day. None of them fear the Lord or observe their statutes and ordinances, the law and commandments the Lord commanded the descendants of Jacob. He had renamed him Israel.