It happened, when Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, "Prepare to attack!" They prepared to attack the city.

The servants of the king of Syria said to him, "Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because the Syrians have said, "Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys;" therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.'"

His servants said to him, "See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life."

So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, "Your servant Ben Hadad says, 'Please let me live.'" He said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."

Ben Hadad said to him, "The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria." "I," said Ahab, "will let you go with this covenant." So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.

Then he said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you." As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.

As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, 'Guard this man! If by any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.'

As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone." The king of Israel said to him, "So your judgment shall be; yourself have decided it."

Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?"

The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.

Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and is dead."

It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

"Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.

Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh.

Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel.

The king of Israel said to his servants, "You know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we are still, and don't take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?"

He said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Jehoshaphat said, "Don't let the king say so."

Micaiah said, "As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak."

He said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, 'These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.'"

It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, "Surely that is the king of Israel!" and they turned aside to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out.

Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

He walked in all the way of Asa his father; He didn't turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh: however the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

The remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land.

But the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?

The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, "Why is it that you have returned?"

They said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"'"

They answered him, "He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist." He said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

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 to inquire of his word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"

Elijah said to Elisha, "Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel." Elisha said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho." He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho.

Elijah said to him, "Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan." He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." They both went on.

It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" When he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over.

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land miscarries."

He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!"

He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?" He said, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?" One of the king of Israel's servants answered, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."

Jehoshaphat said, "The word of Yahweh is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

Elisha said, "As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you.

This is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.

They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood.

They said, "This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!"

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves."

You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those containers; and you shall set aside that which is full."

It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

She said to her husband, "See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, that passes by us continually.

Please let us make a little room on the wall. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. It shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there."

He said to him, "Say now to her, 'Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?'" She answered, "I dwell among my own people."

He said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old."

The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.

He said, "Why would you want go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." She said, "It's alright."

So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. It happened, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, "Behold, there is the Shunammite.

Please run now to meet her, and ask her, 'Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?'" She answered, "It is well."

When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, "Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me, and has not told me."

The mother of the child said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." He arose, and followed her.

So they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, "Man of God, there is death in the pot!" They could not eat of it.

She said to her mistress, "I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy."

Someone went in, and told his lord, saying, "The maiden who is from the land of Israel said this."

It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, "See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant."

But he said, "As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none." He urged him to take it; but he refused.

But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take something from him."

So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?"

He said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'"

He said to him, "Didn't my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants?

Therefore the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your seed forever." He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place where we dwell before you is too small for us.

Please let us go to the Jordan, and every man take a beam from there, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell." He answered, "Go!"

But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water. Then he cried, and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed."

The heart of the king of Syria was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, "Won't you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?"

One of his servants said, "No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom."

He said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him." It was told him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan."

He answered, "Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." He led them to Samaria.

As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"

While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, "Behold, this evil is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?"

Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, "Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?" He said, "Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it."

If we say, 'We will enter into the city,' then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die."

For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great army: and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us.

Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

Then they said one to another, "We aren't doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household."

So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were."

The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, "I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.'"

One of his servants answered, "Please let some take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let us send and see."

The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

It happened, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria;"

Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It shall also come on the land seven years."

It happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life."

Hazael said, "But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria."

He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife. He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

However Yahweh would not destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always.

He walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, "I have a message for you, captain." Jehu said, "To which of us all?" He said, "To you, O captain."

For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel.

Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?" He said to them, "You know the man and what his talk was."

They said, "That is a lie. Tell us now." He said, "He said to me, 'Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel.'"

Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king."