Beginning

21 ¶ Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram, his son, reigned in his stead.

² And he had brethren, sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.

³ And their father had given them great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

⁴ Now Jehoram rose up against the kingdom of his father, and he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with the sword and likewise some of the princes of Israel.

⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

⁶ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife; and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.

⁷ However, the LORD would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.

⁸ In his days Edom rebelled from under the dominion of Judah and made themselves a king.

⁹ Then Jehoram went forth with his princes and all his chariots with him, and he rose up by night and smote Edom who had compassed him in and all the captains of the chariots.

¹⁰ With all this Edom remained in rebellion, out from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Libnah also rebelled at the same time to not be under his hand because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.

¹¹ Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication and compelled Judah unto this.

¹² ¶ And a writing came to him from Elijah, the prophet, that said this: Thus hath the LORD, the God of David, thy father, said, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father nor in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,

¹³ but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fornicate, like unto the fornication of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, who were better than thyself,

¹⁴ behold, the LORD shall smite thy people with a great plague, and thy sons and thy wives and all thy goods;

¹⁵ and thou shalt have great sickness, with disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

¹⁶ Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians;

¹⁷ and they came up against Judah and invaded the land and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also and his wives so that none of his sons remained except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

¹⁸ And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

¹⁹ And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness; so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like they had done for his fathers.

²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and departed without being desired. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

22 ¶ And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead; for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the elder sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah reigned.

² Ahaziah was forty-two years old {another text: twenty-two} when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.

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

⁴ Therefore, he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for they were his counsellors, after the death of his father, to his destruction.

⁵ And He walked after their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael, king of Syria at Ramothgilead, where the Syrians smote Joram.

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

⁷ But this was of God so that Ahaziah would be tread under foot by coming to Joram; for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram to encounter Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

⁸ And it came to pass that when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab and found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them.

⁹ And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (for he had hid himself in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu; and when they had slain him, they buried him, Because, they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no strength to be able to retain the kingdom.

¹⁰ ¶ So when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah.

¹¹ But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were being slain, and kept him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

¹² And he was with them hid in the house of God six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.

23 ¶ And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah, the son of Obed, and Maaseiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.

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

³ And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king’s son who shall reign, as the LORD has said of the sons of David.

⁴ This is the thing that ye must do: A third part of you, those who enter on the sabbath, shall be porters at the doors with the priests and the Levites;

⁵ and a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD.

⁶ But let no one come into the house of the LORD, except the priests and the Levites that minister; they shall go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.

⁷ And the Levites shall compass the king round about, each one shall have his weapons in his hand; and whoever else comes into the house shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.

⁸ So the Levites and all Judah did according to all the things that Jehoiada, the priest, had commanded, and each one took his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath with those that were to go out on the sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the courses.

⁹ Moreover, Jehoiada, the priest, delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers and shields, that had been king David’s, which were in the house of God.

¹⁰ And he set all the people in order, each one having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about.

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

¹² ¶ Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running of those that were praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:

¹³ And she looked and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entrance and the princes and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and sounded with trumpets, and those that knew how to praise sang with instruments of music. Then Athaliah rent her clothes and said, Treason, Treason.

¹⁴ Then Jehoiada, the priest, brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host and said unto them, Remove her from the order of the house, and whoever follows her, let them be slain with the sword. For the priest had commanded, Slay her not in the house of the LORD.

¹⁵ So they laid hands on her, and she entered into the entrance of the horse gate of the king’s house, and they slew her there.

¹⁶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between him and between all the people and between the king that they should be the LORD’s people.

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

¹⁸ Also Jehoiada ordered the offices of the house of the LORD under the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.

¹⁹ He also set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD so that there should be no way for anyone who was unclean to enter in.

²⁰ Then he took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and those that governed 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 high gate into the king’s house and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

²¹ And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was at rest after they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

24 ¶ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

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

⁴ And it came to pass after this that Joash desired to repair the house of the LORD.

⁵ And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and be diligent in this matter. However the Levites were not diligent.

⁶ Therefore the king called for Jehoiada, the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem unto the tabernacle of the testimony the collection, according to the commandment of Moses, the slave of the LORD and of the congregation of Israel?

⁷ For the wicked woman, Athaliah, and her sons had broken up the house of God, and they had also bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD upon Baalim.

⁸ And at the king’s commandment they made an ark and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD.

⁹ And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the slave of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the ark until they had fulfilled their duty.

¹¹ Now it came to pass, that at what time the ark was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the ark and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those that did the work of the service of the house of the LORD and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD and also those that wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.

¹³ So the workmen wrought, and by their hands the work was done, and they restored the house of God and strengthened it.

¹⁴ And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which they made vessels for the house of the LORD, vessels to minister and to offer with, and spoons 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 waxed old and was full of days when he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.

¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and worshipped the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

¹⁸ And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their guilt.

¹⁹ Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the LORD, and they testified against them, but they would not give ear.

²⁰ And the Spirit of God clothed himself in Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who being over the people, said unto them, Thus hath God said, Why do ye transgress the commandments of the LORD? Ye shall not prosper in this; for because ye have forsaken the LORD, he shall also forsake you.

²¹ And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

²² Thus Joash, the king, did not remember the mercy which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him but slew his son; who said when he died, The LORD look upon it and require it.

²³ And at the end of the year, the host of Syria came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.

²⁴ For even though the army of the Syrians had come with a small company of men, the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgments against Joash.

²⁵ And when they were departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own slaves conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings.

²⁶ Those that conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabitess.

²⁷ Now concerning his sons, and of the multiplication that he did of the taxes and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.