Study Desk

"Yes," Gehazi answered. "But my master has sent me to tell you about two young prophets from the hills of Ephraim. They came asking for help, and now Elisha wants to know if you would give them about seventy-five pounds of silver and some new clothes?"

"Sure," Naaman replied. "But why don't you take twice that amount of silver?" He convinced Gehazi to take it all, then put the silver in two bags. He handed the bags and the clothes to his two servants, and they carried them for Gehazi.

So yesterday we cooked my son and ate him. But today when I went to her house to eat her son, she had hidden him."

The chief officer there with the king replied, "I don't believe it! Even if the Lord sent a rainstorm, it couldn't produce that much grain by tomorrow." "You will see it happen, but you won't eat any of the food," Elisha warned him.

There's nothing to eat in the city, so we would starve if we went inside. But if we stay out here, we will die for sure. Let's sneak over to the Syrian army camp and surrender. They might kill us, but they might not."

The king of Israel had put his chief officer in charge of the gate, but he died when the people trampled him as they rushed out of the city.

But the officer refused to believe that even the Lord could do that. So Elisha warned him that he would see it happen, but would not eat any of the food.

"Tell him he will," Elisha said to Hazael. "But the Lord has already told me that Benhadad will definitely die."

But the very next day, Hazael got a thick blanket; he soaked it in water and held it over Benhadad's face until he died. Hazael then became king.

But the Lord refused to destroy Judah, because he had promised his servant David that someone from his family would always rule in Judah.

So Jehoram and his cavalry marched to Zair, where the Edomite army surrounded him and his commanders. During the night he attacked the Edomites, but he was defeated, and his troops escaped to their homes.

One of the soldiers rode out and said to Jehu, "King Joram wants to know if this is a friendly visit." "What's it to you?" Jehu asked. "Just stay behind me with the rest of my troops!" About the same time the guard in the watchtower said, "Your Majesty, the rider got there, but he isn't coming back."

The guard in the watchtower said, "Your Majesty, the rider got there, but he isn't coming back either. Wait a minute! That one man is a reckless chariot driver—it must be Jehu!"

Ahaziah saw all of this happen and tried to escape to the town of Beth-Haggan, but Jehu caught up with him and shouted, "Kill him too!" So his troops shot Ahaziah with an arrow while he was on the road to Gur near Ibleam. He went as far as Megiddo, where he died.

But when they went out to bury her body, they found only her skull, her hands, and her feet.

The prime minister, the mayor of the city, as well as the other leaders and Ahab's supporters, sent this answer to Jehu, "We are your servants, Your Majesty, and we will do whatever you tell us. But it's not our place to choose someone to be king. You do what you think is best."

The next morning, Jehu went out and stood where everyone could hear him, and he said, "You people are not guilty of anything. I'm the one who plotted against Joram and had him killed. But who killed all these men?

Jehu called together the people in Samaria and said: King Ahab sometimes worshiped Baal, but I will be completely faithful to Baal.

I'm going to offer a huge sacrifice to him. So invite his prophets and priests, and be sure everyone who worships him is there. Anyone who doesn't come will be killed. But this was a trick—Jehu was really planning to kill the worshipers of Baal.

and broke it into pieces, then they completely destroyed Baal's temple. And since that time, it's been nothing but a public toilet.