Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh: ‘Thus says Yahweh, "At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat bread flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.’" Then the officer on whom the king relied answered the man of God and said, "Look, even if Yahweh is making windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he said, "Look, you will be seeing it with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it there."

Now four men who had a skin disease were at the entrance of the gate, and they said to each other, "Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall die. So then, come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we shall live; but if they kill us, then we shall die." So they got up at dusk to go to the camp of the Arameans. They went up to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, and look, there was no man there! Now the Lord had caused the camp of the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, and the sound of a great army. So they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!" So they got up and fled at dusk and left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the camp as it was, and they fled for their lives. When these who had the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into a certain tent and they ate, drank, and took from there silver and gold and clothes. Then they went and hid them, then returned and came to another tent, and they took from there and went and hid them.

Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news! If we are silent and wait until the light of morning, they will find us and we will be punished. So then, come, let us go and tell the house of the king." When they came, they called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no man or the voice of a man there! Only the horses and the donkeys were tied up, and the tents were left as they were." Then the gatekeepers called and told it inside the house of the king. 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 he took two charioteer horsemen, and the king sent after the camp of the Arameans, saying, "Go, find out," and they went after them to the Jordan. Look, all of the way was littered with clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. A seah of wheat flour went for a shekel and two seahs of barley went for a shekel according to the word of Yahweh. 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. It happened as the man of God spoke to the king, saying, "Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel and a seah of wheat flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria." Then the officer had replied to the man of God and said, "Look, even if Yahweh is opening the windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he had said, "Look you are about to see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it." So it had happened to him; the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land for seven years." So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and dwelt as an alien in the land of the Philistines 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 speaking to Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all of the great things which 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."

Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill, and he was told, "The man of God has come up here." Then the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go meet the man of God. Inquire of Yahweh from him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’" So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand of all of the good things of Damascus, a load on each of forty camels, and he came and stood before him. Then he said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’" Elisha said to him, "Go; say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he certainly will die." Then the man fixed his gaze and stared at him until he was ashamed and the man of God cried. Then Hazael asked, "Why is my lord crying?" He said, "Because I know what evil you will do to the Israelites. You will set their fortifications on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword. Their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open!" 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.

Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife, and he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his sons always.

In his days, Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah, and they set up a king over them. 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? So Joram slept with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son became king in place of him.

In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Joram became king of Judah. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

He went with Joram the son of Ahab for the battle against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. Joram the king returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted at Ramah when Hazael king of Aram fought him. Ahaziah the son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

And Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place. Now he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. And their father gave to them many gifts of silver, gold, and valuables, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, for he was the firstborn. When Jehoram ascended to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and murdered all his brothers with the sword, and even some of the princes of Israel.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh. But Yahweh was not willing to destroy the house of David on account of the covenant that he had made with David and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants forever.

In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set up a king of their own. Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all the chariots with him, and when night came he struck Edom who was all around him and the commanders of his chariots. So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah also revolted at that time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his ancestors.

Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah, and he enticed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful, and he led Judah astray. And a letter from Elijah the prophet came to him, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or in the ways of Asa, the king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful like the unfaithfulness of the house of Ahab, and have also murdered your brothers of the house of your father who were better than you, behold, Yahweh is inflicting a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, and you yourself will be afflicted with great illness, with sickness in your bowels, until your bowels come out on account of the illness, day by day.’"

And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who were near the Cushites against Jehoram. And they came up against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions found in the house of the king, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz his youngest son.

And after all this Yahweh afflicted him in his bowels with an illness for which there was no cure. And it happened that after many days, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of his illness, and he died in terrible agony. And his people did not make a fire for him like the fire for his ancestors. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the burial sites of the kings.

"And take care not to practice your righteousness before people to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But you, when you practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, in order that your charitable giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, in order that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"But when you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the pagans, for they think that because of their many words they will be heard. Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Therefore you pray in this way:

For if you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But when you are fasting, put olive oil on your head and wash your face so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is sincere, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? And who among you, by being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin, but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. But if God dresses the grass of the field in this way, although it is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not do so much more for you, you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’ for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.