Elijah took off his ornamented cloak, wrapped it up in a roll, struck the water, and all of a sudden the water divided into two parts! One side of the river stood still opposite the other until the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

But they persisted until he was frustrated, so he said, “Send them out!” So they sent out the 50 men, and they looked around for three days but did not find Elijah.

They destroyed their cities, and all of them threw stones onto every piece of farm land, ruining the fields. Then they filled in all the water wells and chopped down all of the useful trees. Stone walls remained surrounding Kir-hareseth only, until the archers surrounded and attacked that city.

When the king of Moab realized that the battle was going strongly against him, he took 700 expert swordsmen to attempt to break through to the king of Edom, but was unable to do so.

So the servant carried him over to his mother, where he rested on her lap until mid-day, and then he died.

So she saddled a donkey and told her servant, “Forward, driver! Don’t slow down on my account, unless I tell you!”

The king of Aram replied, “Go now, and I’ll send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he left and took with him ten talents of silver and 6,000 units of gold, along with ten sets of clothing.

until there was a great famine throughout Samaria. The siege lasted until a donkey’s head cost 80 silver coins and one quarter of a unit of dove’s dung cost five silver coins.

When the king heard what the woman said, he ripped his garments as he continued walking along the city wall. As the people watched, all of a sudden they noticed he was wearing sackcloth underneath his clothes, inside next to his flesh!

But then they told each other, “We’re not doing the right thing. This is a day of good news, but if we keep quiet until morning, we’re sure to be punished! So let’s leave and go tell the king’s household!”

The king consulted with the woman, who related the story. So the king appointed a court official to represent her and ordered him: “Restore to her everything that belonged to her, including all of the produce that her fields yielded from the day she left the land until now.”

Then Elisha looked steadily at Hazael until Hazael grew ashamed, and then the man of God began to cry.

But the Lord remained unwilling to destroy Judah for the sake of his servant David, since he had promised to keep David’s lamp burning brightly through his descendants every day.

At this, each man quickly grabbed his own garment, placed it under him at the top of the stairs, sounded a trumpet, and announced, “Jehu is king!”

he ordered, “Throw her down!” So they did, and her blood splashed against the wall and on the horses, while Jehu trampled her underfoot.

When the messenger arrived to report to the king, he said, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu replied, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

So Jehu executed all those who remained from Ahab’s dynasty in Jezreel, including all of Ahab’s men, his friends, and his priests, until there remained not even one survivor.

When Jehu arrived in Samaria, he executed everyone who remained of Ahab’s household in Samaria, until he had utterly destroyed Ahab in accordance with the message from the Lord that he spoke to Elijah.

and ordered him, “Open a window that faces east.” So he did so. Elisha ordered him, “Shoot!” So he shot. Then Elisha said, “This is the Lord’s arrow of victory—the victory arrow against Aram, because you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you will have utterly finished them off.”

At this, the man of God became angry at him and told him, “You should have struck five or six times! Then you would have attacked Aram until you would have destroyed it! But as it is now, you’ll defeat Aram only three times!”

but the Lord showed grace to them, displayed his compassion toward them, and turned to them due to his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He would not destroy them or evict them from his presence up until that time.

Jeroboam Succeeds Israel’s King Jehoash

The rest of Jehoash’s activities that he undertook, including his valor in fighting King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

The Lord had never said that he would erase the name of Israel from under heaven. Instead, he delivered them by Joash’s son Jeroboam.

The Lord struck the king so that he was afflicted with leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house while his son Jotham managed the household and ruled the people who lived in the land.

Furthermore, Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.