Ahaziah becomes king of Judah

22 The people who lived in Jerusalem chose Jehoram's youngest son, Ahaziah, to become king. The group of men who came into the city with the Arabs had killed all Jehoram's older sons. So Jehoram's son Ahaziah became the king of Judah.

² Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.^[a]

³ Ahaziah lived in the same bad way that Ahab's family had done. His mother taught him to do wicked things. ⁴ He did things that the Lord said were evil, as Ahab's family had done. Ahab's family became advisors to Ahaziah after his father died, and they caused Ahaziah's death. ⁵ They told him to join with Ahab's son, King Joram of Israel, to fight against King Hazael of Syria. They fought a battle at Ramoth Gilead. The Syrian army won the fight and they hurt King Joram. ⁶ Joram returned to Jezreel, so that his wounds could get better after the battle. While he was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him, because of his wounds.

Jehu kills Ahaziah and his people

⁷ When Ahaziah visited Joram, God used it to cause Ahaziah's death. When Ahaziah arrived, he went with Joram to meet Nimshi's son Jehu. But the Lord had chosen Jehu to kill all Ahab's family. ⁸ While Jehu was destroying Ahab's family, he met some of the officers of Judah who had come with Ahaziah. Jehu killed them, as well as some of Ahaziah's relatives who had travelled with him. ⁹ Then he went to look for Ahaziah. Jehu's men caught him in the city of Samaria, where he was hiding. They took him to Jehu. Then they punished him with death. They buried him properly, because they said, ‘He was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat who served the Lord faithfully.’

Now there was nobody in Ahaziah's family who had the authority to rule Judah as king.

Athaliah rules Judah

¹⁰ Ahaziah's mother Athaliah heard the news that her son was dead. So she started to kill everyone in Judah's royal family.

¹¹ But King Jehoram's daughter Jehosheba rescued Ahaziah's son Joash. When Athaliah's servants had come to murder the royal sons, Jehosheba took Joash away and she hid him. She put him in a bedroom in the temple with his nurse. Jehosheba was Ahaziah's sister and she was the wife of Jehoiada, the priest. So she hid Joash from Athaliah to stop her from killing him. ¹² Joash stayed safely in a room in God's temple while Queen Athaliah ruled Judah for six years.