Jehoahaz and Jehoash in Israel
13 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning seventeen years. 2 But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it. 3 So the anger of Yahweh was kindled[a] against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael repeatedly.[b] 4 Then Jehoahaz entreated Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them. 5 Yahweh gave Israel a savior, and they went out from under the hand of Aram. So the Israelites[c] lived in their tents as formerly.[d] 6 Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it; and also, the pole of the Asherah worship was still standing in Samaria. 7 For there was no army left over for Jehoahaz except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them as the dust at threshing. 8 Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his powerful deeds, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? 9 Then Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors[e] and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoash his son became king in his place.
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning sixteen years. 11 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it. 12 The remainder of the acts of Joash[f] and all that he did, his powerful deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? 13 Then Joash slept with his ancestors,[g] and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
Elisha Passes Away
14 Elisha became ill with the illness with which he would die, so Jehoash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, and said, “My father, my father; the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” 15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” so he took him a bow and arrows. 16 He said to the king of Israel, “Lay your hand on the bow,”[h] so he lay hold of it; then Elisha put his hand on the hands of the king. 17 Then he said, “Open the window to the east,” so he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. Then he said, “An arrow of victory for Yahweh, and an arrow of victory against Aram; you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until finishing them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” so he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” so he struck three times and stopped. 19 Yet the man of God became angry against him and said, “For striking five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram until finishing them, but now you will defeat Aram only three times.”
20 Elisha died and they buried him. Now the raiding parties of Moab came in the spring.[i] 21 And it happened that they were burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. As he went in, the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet!
22 Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But Yahweh had mercy on them and showed compassion to them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them nor cast them from his presence up to now.
24 When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-Hadad became king in his place. 25 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael which he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 13:3 Literally “the nose of Yahweh became hot”
- 2 Kings 13:3 Literally “all the days”
- 2 Kings 13:5 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 2 Kings 13:5 Literally “as yesterday and the day before”
- 2 Kings 13:9 Or “fathers”
- 2 Kings 13:12 That is, the king of Israel rather than the king of Judah; “Jehoash” and “Joash” are variant spellings of one another
- 2 Kings 13:13 Or “fathers”
- 2 Kings 13:16 Literally “Let your hand climb upon the bow”
- 2 Kings 13:20 Literally “coming year”