The prophet told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”

You must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever approaches your ranks must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes.” ¹ 

He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some hostages. ¹  Then he went back to Samaria. ²  (

Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard:

Some of the prophets ¹  said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you ²  is too cramped ³  for us.

When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Should I strike them down, ¹  my master?” ² 

Jehu then left there and set out for Samaria. ¹  While he was traveling through Beth Eked of the Shepherds,

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.

While Gehazi ¹  was telling the king how Elisha ²  had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. ³  Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”

Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s troops approaching. ¹  He said, “I see troops!” ²  Jehoram ordered, ³  “Send a rider out to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is everything all right?’” ⁴ 

He got up on the bed and spread his body out over ¹  the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s ²  mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin ³  grew warm.

Samaria’s food supply ran out. ¹  They laid siege to it so long that ²  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ³  and a quarter of a kab ⁴  of dove’s droppings ⁵  for five shekels of silver. ⁶ 

The rest of the events of Joash’s ¹  reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ² 

Now a wife of one of the prophets ¹  appealed ²  to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. ³  Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”

Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him ¹  and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire ²  and boil some stew for the prophets.” ³ 

One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!) ¹  Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.” ² 

So the young prophet ¹  went to Ramoth Gilead.

Then she saw ¹  the king standing by the pillar, according to custom. The officers stood beside the king with their trumpets and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason, treason!” ² 

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴