CHAPTER 8
1 Forsooth Elisha spake to the woman, whose son he made to live, and said, Rise thou, and go, both thou and thine house, and go in pilgrimage or make pilgrimage, wherever thou shalt find it best; for the Lord shall call hunger, and it shall come upon the land seven years.
2 And she rose, and did after the word of the man of God; and she went with her house, and was in pilgrimage in the land of Philistines many days.
3 And when seven years were ended, the woman turned again from the land of Philistines; and she went out, to ask the king for her house, and [for] her fields.
4 And the king spake with Gehazi, the child of the man of God, and said, Tell thou to me all the great deeds that Elisha did.
5 And when he told to the king, how Elisha had raised a dead man, the woman appeared, whose son he had made to live, and she cried to the king for her house, and for her fields. And Gehazi said, My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha raised.
6 And the king asked the woman, and she told to him, that the things were sooth. And the king gave, or assigned, to her a chamberlain, and said, Restore thou to her all things that be hers, and all [the] fruits of the fields, from the day in which she left the land unto this present time.
7 Also Elisha came to Damascus, and Benhadad, king of Syria, was sick; and they told to him, and said, The man of God came hither.
8 And the king said to Hazael, Take with thee gifts, and go thou into the meeting of the man of God, and ask thou counsel by him of the Lord, and say thou, Whether I may escape from this my sickness?
9 Therefore Hazael went in to the meeting of him, and had with him gifts, and all the goods of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he had stood before Elisha, he said, Thy son, Benhadad, king of Syria, sent me to thee, and said, Whether I may be healed of this my sickness?
10 And Elisha said, Go thou, and say to him, Thou shalt be healed; forsooth the Lord [hath] showed to me that he shall die by death.
11 And he stood with him, and he was troubled, unto the casting down of his cheer; and the man of God wept.
12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, For I know what evils thou shalt do to the sons of Israel; thou shalt burn [up] by fire the strengthened cities of them, and thou shalt slay by sword the young men of them, and thou shalt hurtle down the little children of them, and thou shalt part the women with child.
13 And Hazael said, What soothly am I, thy servant, a dog, that I do this great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord hath showed to me that thou shalt be king of Syria.
14 And when he had departed from Elisha, he came to his lord; which said to Hazael, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, Elisha said to me, Thou shalt receive health.
15 And when the tother day had come, Hazael took the cloth [or coverlet] that lay on the bed of Benhadad, and he beshedded it with water, and he spreaded it abroad upon the face of Benhadad; and when he was dead, Hazael reigned for him.
16 In the fifth year of Joram*, son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram†, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, reigned.
17 He was of two and thirty years when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 And he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had gone; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did that, that was evil in the sight of the Lord.
19 Forsooth the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David, his servant, as he promised to David, that he should give to him a lantern, and to his sons in all days.
20 In those days Edom, that is, Idumea, went away, that it should not be under Judah; and made a king to itself.
21 And Jehoram came to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and he rose by night, and smote Idumeans, that encompassed him, and the princes of chariots; soothly the people fled into their tabernacles.
22 Therefore Edom went away, that it was not under Judah till to this day; then also Libnah went away in that time.
23 Certainly the residue of the words of Jehoram, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?
24 And Jehoram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David; and Ahaziah, his son, reigned for him.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
26 Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, was of two and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.
27 And he went in the ways of the house of Ahab, and did that, that is evil, in sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did; for he was [the] husband of a daughter of the house of Ahab.
28 Also he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to fight against Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramoth of Gilead; and men of Syria wounded Joram.
29 Which turned again, to be healed in Jezreel; for men of Syria wounded him in Ramoth, fighting against Hazael, king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, came down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, into Jezreel, that was sick there.
* CHAPTER 8:16 Also known as Jehoram. † CHAPTER 8:16 Also known as Joram.