2 Kings 8:1-15

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He said, “Get up and go with your family. Stay any place you can, because the LORD has called for a time without food that will last seven years.” So the woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She left with her family, and they stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years. After seven years she returned from the land of the Philistines and went to beg the king for her house and land. The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had said, “Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done.” Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought a dead boy back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came and begged the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, “My master and king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha brought back to life.” The king asked the woman, and she told him about it. Then the king chose an officer to help her. “Give the woman everything that is hers,” the king said. “Give her all the money made from her land from the day she left until now.” Then Elisha went to Damascus, where Ben-Hadad king of Aram was sick. Someone told him, “The man of God has arrived.” The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go meet him. Ask the LORD through him if I will recover from my sickness.” So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camels loaded with every good thing in Damascus. He came and stood before Elisha and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram sent me to you. He asks if he will recover from his sickness.” Elisha said to Hazael, “Go and tell Ben-Hadad, ‘You will surely recover,’ but the LORD has told me he will really die.” Hazael stared at Elisha until he felt ashamed. Then Elisha cried. Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, master?” Elisha answered, “Because I know what evil you will do to the Israelites. You will burn their strong, walled cities with fire and kill their young men with swords. You will throw their babies to the ground and split open their pregnant women.” Hazael said, “Am I a dog? How could I do such things?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” Then Hazael left Elisha and came to his master. Ben-Hadad said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael answered, “He told me that you will surely recover.” But the next day Hazael took a blanket and dipped it in water. Then he put it over Ben-Hadad’s face, and he died. So Hazael became king in Ben-Hadad’s place.