Daily Bread

¹⁴ Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots^(A) and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵ Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,”^(B) and he did so. ¹⁶ “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷ “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!”^(C) Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”^(D)

¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”^(E)

²⁰ Elisha died and was buried.

Now Moabite raiders^(F) used to enter the country every spring. ²¹ Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life^(G) and stood up on his feet.

²² Hazael king of Aram oppressed^(H) Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant^(I) with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy^(J) them or banish them from his presence.^(K)

²⁴ Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad^(L) his son succeeded him as king. ²⁵ Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times^(M) Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered^(N) the Israelite towns.