Beginning

21 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with [them] in the City of David. Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

² He had brothers: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah, all the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

³ Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and precious things, together with fortified cities in Judah, but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, the firstborn.

⁴ When Jehoram had ascended to the kingship of his father, he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with the sword and also some of Israel’s princes.

⁵ Jehoram at thirty-two years of age began his eight-year reign in Jerusalem.

⁶ He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he married the daughter of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

⁷ But the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because He had made a covenant with David and promised to give a light to him and to his sons forever.

⁸ In Jehoram’s days, the Edomites revolted from the rule of Judah and set up for themselves a king.

⁹ Then Jehoram passed over [the Jordan] with his captains and all his chariots, and rose up by night and smote the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot captains.

¹⁰ So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah also revolted from Jehoram’s rule, because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.

¹¹ Moreover, he made idolatrous high places in the hill country of Judah and debauched spiritually the inhabitants of Jerusalem and led Judah astray [compelling the people’s cooperation].

¹² And there came a letter to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father [forefather]: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

¹³ But have walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, and made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem play the harlot like the [spiritual] harlotry of Ahab’s house, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than you,

¹⁴ Behold, the Lord will smite your people, and your children, your wives, and all your possessions with a great plague.

¹⁵ And you yourself shall have a severe illness because of an intestinal disease, until your bowels fall out because of the sickness, day after day.

¹⁶ And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabs who were near the Ethiopians.

¹⁷ They came against Judah, invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in and around the king’s house, together with his sons and his wives; so there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest.

¹⁸ And after all this, the Lord smote [Jehoram] with an incurable intestinal disease.

¹⁹ In process of time, after two years, his bowels fell out because of his disease. So he died in severe distress. And his people made no funeral fire to honor him, like the fires for his fathers.

²⁰ Thirty-two years old was Jehoram when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being wanted. Yet they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

22 The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead, for the troop that came with the Arabs to the camp had slain all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

² Forty-two years old was Ahaziah when he began his one-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.^(A)

³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.

⁴ So he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after his father’s death, to his destruction.

⁵ He followed their counsel and even went with ^[a]Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram;^(B)

⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds given him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Azariah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.

⁷ But the destruction of Ahaziah was ordained of God in his coming to visit Joram. For when he got there he went out with Joram against Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

⁸ And when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s slain brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he slew them.

⁹ And [Jehu] sought Ahaziah, who was hiding in Samaria; he was captured, brought to Jehu, and slain. They buried him, for they said, After all, he is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no one left able to rule the kingdom.

¹⁰ But when Athaliah mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of Judah.

¹¹ But Jehosheba, the daughter of the king, took Joash [infant] son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were to be slain, and she put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehosheba daughter of King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, and wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid [Joash] from [his grandmother] Athaliah, so that she did not slay him.

¹² And Joash was with them hidden in the house of God six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land.

23 In the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest] took strength and courage and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

² And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities, and the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³ And all the assembly made a covenant in the house of God with the king [little Joash, to suddenly proclaim his sovereignty and overthrow Athaliah’s tyranny]. And Jehoiada the priest said to them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has said of the offspring of David.

⁴ This is what you shall do: a third of you priests and Levites who are resuming service on the Sabbath shall be doorkeepers,

⁵ A [second] third shall be at the king’s house, and [the final] third at the Foundation Gate; and all the people shall be in the courts [only] of the house of the Lord.

⁶ But let none come into the [main] house of the Lord except the priests and those of the Levites who minister; they may go in, for they are holy, but let all the rest of the people carefully observe the law against entering the holy place of the Lord.

⁷ And the Levites shall surround the young king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house [breaking through the ranks of the guard to get near Joash] shall be put to death. But you be with the king when he comes in [from the temple chamber where he is hiding] and when he goes out.

⁸ So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded; and took every man his men who were to resume duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions [of priests and Levites].

⁹ Also Jehoiada the priest gave the captains of hundreds spears, bucklers, and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God.

¹⁰ And he set all the people as a guard for the king, every man having his weapon (missile) in his hand, from the right side to the left side of the temple, around the altar and the temple.

¹¹ Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony or law and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, Long live the king!

¹² When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the Lord’s house to the people.

¹³ And behold, there the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, the captains and the trumpeters beside him; and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with musical instruments led in singing of praise. Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason! Treason!

¹⁴ Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were over the army, Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Do not slay her in the Lord’s house.

¹⁵ So they made way for Athaliah, and she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house; there they slew her.

¹⁶ Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord’s people.

¹⁷ Then all the people went to the house of Baal, tore it down, and broke its altars and its images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

¹⁸ Also Jehoiada appointed the offices and officers [for the care] of the house of the Lord under the direction of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed [in his day] in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as ordered by David.

¹⁹ Jehoiada set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean.

²⁰ And he took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought down the king from the house of the Lord; and they came through the Upper Gate to the king’s house and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

²¹ So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been slain with the sword.

24 Joash was seven years old when he began his forty-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest [his uncle].

³ And Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴ After this, Joash decided to repair the Lord’s house.

⁵ He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten it.

⁶ So the king called for Jehoiada the high priest and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?

⁷ For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and also had used for the Baals all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord.

⁸ And at the king’s command they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord.

⁹ And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ And all the princes and people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.

¹¹ When the Levites brought the chest to the king’s office, and whenever they saw that there was much money, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day and collected money in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the temple service; and they hired masons and carpenters and also those who worked in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.

¹³ So the workmen labored, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands; and they set up the house of God according to its design and strengthened it.

¹⁴ When they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; from it were made utensils for the Lord’s house, vessels for ministering and for offerings, and cups and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ But Jehoiada became old and full of [the handicaps of great] age, and he died. He was 130 years old at his death.

¹⁶ They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada [the priest, who had hidden Joash], the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to King Joash; then the king hearkened to them.

¹⁸ They forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sin (guilt).

¹⁹ Yet [God] sent prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord; these testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood over the people, and he said to them, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.

²¹ They conspired against Zechariah the priest and stoned him at the command of the king in the court of the Lord’s house!

²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had done him, but slew his son. And when [Zechariah the priest] was dying, he said, May the Lord see and avenge!

²³ At the end of the year, the army of Syria came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ Though the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hands, because Joash and Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Syrians executed judgment against Joash.

²⁵ And when they had departed from Joash, leaving him very ill, his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they slew him on his bed. So he died and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶ The conspirators against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

²⁷ Now concerning his sons and the greatness of the prophecies uttered against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are written in the commentary on the Book of Kings. And Amaziah his [Joash’s] son reigned in his stead.