Jehoahaz Son of Jehu, King of Israel

13 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years. ² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit. He did not turn from them. ³ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, so he gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben Hadad son of Hazael, all his days. ⁴ Jehoahaz, however, sought the Lord’s favor, and the Lord listened to him, because he saw the oppression that the king of Aram was inflicting on Israel. ⁵ So the Lord appointed a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes^[a] as they had before.

⁶ But they did not turn from the sins which the house of Jeroboam caused Israel to commit. They walked in them, and there was even an Asherah pole standing in Samaria. ⁷ Nothing was left of Jehoahaz’s army except fifty charioteers,^[b] ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, for the king of Aram had destroyed them. He made them like dust at threshing time.

⁸ As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and everything he did and his mighty deeds, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel? ⁹ Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and they buried him in Samaria. Then his son Joash^[c] became king in his place.