Then Elisha said unto them - This, is not the way, neither is, this, the city, follow me, that I may lead you unto the man, whom ye would secure! So he led them to Samaria.

It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, "Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

He answered, "You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master."

So he threw a big banquet for them and they ate and drank. Then he sent them back to their master. After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel.

It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

Samaria's food supply ran out. They laid siege to it so long that a donkey's head was selling for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of dove's droppings for five shekels of silver.

It happened that the king of Israel [was] crossing over on the wall, and a woman called out to him, saying, "Help, my lord the king!"

The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'

So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, 'Give your son, that we may eat him;' and she has hidden her son."

It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his flesh.

Now Elisha [was] sitting in his house and the elders [were] sitting with him, and [the king] dispatched a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Did you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door; and you must {hold the door closed against him}. [Is] not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?"

Now there happened to be four lepers who were at that very moment at the entrance to the city gate. As they were talking with one another, they said, "Why are we sitting here waiting to die?

Though we thought that we might come into the city, yet is the dearth so great in the city, that we shall there die. And if we tarry here, we are but dead also. Now therefore come, and let us flee to the Host of the Syrians. If they save our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, then are we dead."

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,

For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, and the noise of a great Host. Insomuch that they said one to another, "See, the king of Israel hath hired against us, the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt, to come upon us."

And upon that they arose and fled in the dark, and left their tents, their horses, their asses and the field they had pitched even as it was, and fled for their lives.

When the lepers arrived at the outskirts of the encampment, they entered one tent and ate and drank. Then they carried off from there some silver, gold, and clothes, and went out and hid them. After this, they returned, entered another tent, raided it, and went and hid all of that, too!

Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.

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 one of his servants replied and said, "Please let them take five of the remaining horses which remain in [the city]; behold, they [are] like all of the multitude of Israel that remain in it; they are like all the multitude of Israel who have perished. Let us send and see."

So they tracked them as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. The scouts went back and told the king.

Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp.

It was then that six quarts of fine meal sold for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

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.

and that captain answered the man of God, and said, "Now, behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?" and he said, "Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it."

It happened like that to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and he died.

Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, "You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years."

It happened at the end of seven years that the woman returned from the land of [the] Philistines and went out to appeal to the king for her household and for her {properties}.

Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."

It happened that as he [was] telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, suddenly the woman whose son he had restored to life [was] crying out to the king about her household and about her field. Then Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this [is] the woman and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life!"

So the king asked the woman, and she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain court official, saying, "Restore all that [is] hers and all the yield of the field from [the] day she left the land up to now."

After that, Elisha went to Damascus; Benhadad the king of Syria being sick. And one told the king, saying, "The man of God is come hither."

Elisha said to him, "Go; say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but Yahweh has shown me that he certainly will die."

And the man of God began to look earnestly, insomuch that he was ashamed: and the man of God wept.

Hazael said, "Why do you weep, my lord?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child."

Then Hazael said, "But how could your servant, who [is] like a dog, do this great thing?" Elisha said, "Yahweh has shown me [that] you [are to be] king over Aram."

So he departed from Elisha and came to his master. He asked him, "What did Elisha say to you." So he said, "He said to me that you will certainly recover."

On the next day, he took the bed cover, dipped [it] in the water, and spread [it] over his face so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.

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.

But it was not the Lord's purpose to send destruction on Judah, because of David his servant, to whom he had given his word that he would have a light for ever.

So Joram crossed over to Zair and all the chariots with him. It happened that he arose [by] night and attacked Edom who had surrounded him and the commanders of the chariots; but the army fled to their tents.

So Edom has rebelled {against the rule} of Judah until this day; then Libnah [also] rebelled at that time.

The remainder of the acts of Joram and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?

In the twelfth year that Joram, the son of Ahab, was king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king;

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.

He joined Ahab's son Joram in an attack on King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and that's where 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.

So Jehu got up and went inside the house, and the young man told him, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: "I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD that is, over Israel.

You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel.

For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab the males, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:

I will make the family of Ahab like that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Baasha, the son of Ahijah.

When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know [very well] the man and his talk.”

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.'"

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.”

Now, the watchman, was standing upon the tower, in Jezreel, so he saw the great company of Jehu, when he came, and said - A great company, can I see! Then said Jehoram - Take a horseman and send to meet them, that he may say - Is it peace?

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.”

Jehoram ordered, "Hitch up my chariot." When his chariot had been hitched up, King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out in their respective chariots to meet Jehu. They met up with him in the plot of land that had once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.

It happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound?"

Then Jehu {drew his bow} and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;

"Know for sure that I saw the shed blood of Naboth and his sons yesterday," says the Lord, "and that I will give you what you deserve right here in this plot of land," says the Lord.' So now pick him up and throw him into this plot of land, just as the Lord said."

And when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw, he fled by the way of the garden-house. And Jehu followed after him and said, Strike him also in the chariot, at the going up to Gur, that is near Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.

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

And he lifted up his eyes to the window and said, "Who is of my side? Who?" And there looked out to him two or three lords that were chamberlains.

They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the 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.

and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, "This is Jezebel."'"

And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,

Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;

Therefore choose the best, and him that most pleaseth you of your master's sons, and put him on his father's seat, and fight for your lord's house."

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."

And it came to pass when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slaughtered seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jizreel.

It happened in the morning that he went out, stood, and said to all of the people, "You [are] righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all of these?

Know then that {the word of Yahweh will not fail} which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab; Yahweh has done what he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah.

And Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jizreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

Then Jehu got up, left the city, and went to Samaria. When he arrived at the shearing house that was located on the way,

And he said, "Take them alive." And they took them alive, and slew them at the well beside the house where the shepherds bind their sheep, in number forty two persons; that he left none of them.

And when he was departed thence he met with Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming against him. And Jehu saluted him and said to him, "Is thine heart right, as mine heart is with thine?" And Jehonadab said, "Yea, that it is." "If it be, then give me thine hand." And he gave his hand, and the other took him up to him into the chariot,

And he came to Samaria, and smote all that remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke to Elijah.

After that, Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little: but Jehu shall serve him a good.

And now call me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting; for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whoever shall be wanting shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, in order that he might bring destruction upon the servants of Baal.

Jehu sent [word] through all of Israel, and all of the servants of Baal came; there did not remain a man who did not come. They came to the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was filled from {wall to wall}.

And he said to him that was over the wardrobe, Bring forth vestments for all the servants of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came [to] the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal."

And they entered in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings. Now Jehu appointed eighty men without, and said, He that allows any of the men to escape that I have brought into your hands, his life shall be for the life of him.

It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal.

They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.

They also cut down the pillar to Baal, tore apart Baal's temple, and turned it into a latrine and it remains that way today.

That's how Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel.

Only, the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, from them Jehu departed not: from the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well by doing right in my eyes and you have done to the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in my heart; [therefore,] sons of the fourth generation will sit for you on the throne of Israel."

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, at the sun-rising, the whole land of Gilead, of the Gadite, and the Reubenite, and the Manassahite (from Aroer, that is by the brook Arnon), even Gilead and Bashan.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all of his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Now the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, so she prepared to destroy all of the offspring of the royal family.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and hid him and his nurse in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.

And he commanded them saying, This is the thing which ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;

And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.

And the two parts of you, all those that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah about the king.

And ye shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes within the ranks shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.