Also do this: remove each king from his position and appoint captains in their place.

Then Ben-hadad said to him, “I restore to you the cities that my father took from your father, and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, like my father set up in Samaria.”

Ahab responded, “On the basis of this treaty, I release you.” So he made a treaty with him and released him.

He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes. The king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets.

The prophet said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you released from your hand the man I had set apart for destruction, it will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.’”

The king of Israel had said to his servants, “Don’t you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”

When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening, and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.

He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

He removed from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa.

Ahaziah had fallen through the latticed window of his upper room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers instructing them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this injury.”

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not get up from your sickbed—you will certainly die.’” Then Elijah left.

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.’”

Elijah responded to the captain of the 50, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men.” So a divine fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of 50 with their fifties, but this time let my life be precious in your sight.”

Then Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel for you to inquire of His will?—you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’”

The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal,

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.

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.”

Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.”

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.

Elisha went out to the spring of water, threw salt in it, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.’”

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and harassed him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!”

From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.

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

So King Joram marched out from Samaria at that time and mobilized all Israel.

About the time for the grain offering the next morning, water suddenly came from the direction of Edom and filled the land.

All Moab had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, from the youngest to the oldest, were summoned and took their stand at the border.

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.

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.

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.

Then he said, “Go and borrow empty containers from everyone—from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.

When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone—she is in severe anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn’t told me.”

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.

A man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with his sack full of 20 loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”

Aram had gone on raids and brought back from the land of Israel a young girl who served Naaman’s wife.

So Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.

Then Naaman and his whole company went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “I know there’s no God in the whole world except in Israel. Therefore, please accept a gift from your servant.”

So he said to him, “Go in peace.”

After Naaman had traveled a short distance from Elisha,

Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God, thought: My master has let this Aramean Naaman off lightly by not accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.

So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”

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.’”

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.

But Elisha questioned him, “Wasn’t my spirit there when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept money and clothes, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves?

Therefore, Naaman’s skin disease will cling to you and your descendants forever.” So Gehazi went out from his presence diseased—white as snow.

He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”

While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

When the woman returned from the land of the Philistines at the end of seven years, she went to appeal to the king for her house and field.

When the king asked the woman, she told him the story. So the king appointed a court official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the income from the field from the day she left the country until now.”

So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

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?’”

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.

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.

But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael. Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go tell about it in Jezreel.”

When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”

He answered, “What peace can there be as long as there is so much prostitution and witchcraft from your mother Jezebel?”

When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, so she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from the window.

When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained from the house of Ahab in Samaria until he had annihilated his house, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.

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.

Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel,

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.

Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead—the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites—from Aroer which is by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.

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 the guards stood with their weapons in hand surrounding the king—from the right side of the temple to the left side, by the altar and by the temple.

When Athaliah heard the noise from the guard and the crowd, she went out to the people at 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.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king and reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, who was from Beer-sheba.

Then Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated money brought to the Lord’s temple, census money, money from vows, and all money voluntarily given for the Lord’s temple,

each priest is to take from his assessor and repair whatever damage to the temple is found.”

So King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any money from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.”

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

However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver were made for the Lord’s temple from the money brought into the temple.

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

The money from the restitution offering and the sin offering was not brought to the Lord’s temple since it belonged to the priests.

So King Joash of Judah took all the consecrated items that his ancestors—Judah’s kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah—had consecrated, along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the king’s palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

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.

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.

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.

When Elisha became sick with the illness that he died from, Jehoash king of Israel went down and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

but the Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them. Even now He has not banished them from His presence.

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.

He was 25 years old when he became king and reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan and was from Jerusalem.

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.

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.

He was 16 years old when he became king and reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah, who was from Jerusalem.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Then Menahem exacted 20 ounces of silver from each of the wealthy men of Israel to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not stay there in the land.

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.

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.

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.

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. March up and save me from the power of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

Uriah built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz sent from Damascus. Therefore, by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus, Uriah the priest had completed it.