Judah’s King Ahaziah

22 Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, because the troops that had come with the Arabs^(A) to the camp had killed all the older sons.^[a] So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. ² Ahaziah^(B) was twenty-two^[b] years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter^[c] of Omri.

³ He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother gave him evil advice. ⁴ So he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab, for they were his advisers after the death of his father, to his destruction. ⁵ He also followed their advice and went with Joram^[d] son of Israel’s King Ahab to fight against King Hazael of Aram, in Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans^[e] wounded Joram, ⁶ so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead^[f] when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. Then Judah’s King Ahaziah^[g] son of Jehoram went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab since Joram was ill.

⁷ Ahaziah’s downfall came from God when he went to Joram.^(C) When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi,^(D) whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.^{(E) 8} So when Jehu executed judgment on the house of Ahab,^(F) he found the rulers of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers who were serving Ahaziah, and he killed them. ⁹ Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah,^(G) and Jehu’s soldiers captured him (he was hiding in Samaria). So they brought Ahaziah to Jehu, and they killed him. The soldiers buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart.”^(H) So no one from the house of Ahaziah had the strength to rule the kingdom.