Beginning

The Reign of Jehoram

21 And Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors^[a] and was buried with his ancestors^[b] in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place. ² Now he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. ³ And their father gave to them many gifts of silver, gold, and valuables, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, for he was the firstborn. ⁴ When Jehoram ascended to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and murdered all his brothers with the sword, and even some of the princes of Israel.

⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh. ⁷ But Yahweh was not willing to destroy the house of David on account of the covenant that he had made^[c] with David and since he had promised^[d] to give a lamp to him and to his descendants^[e] forever.^[f]

⁸ In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set up a king of their own. ⁹ Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all the chariots with him, and when night came he struck Edom who was all around him and the commanders of his chariots. ¹⁰ So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah also revolted at that time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his ancestors.^[g]

¹¹ Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah, and he enticed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful, and he led Judah astray. ¹² And a letter from Elijah the prophet came to him, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or in the ways of Asa, the king of Judah, ¹³ but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful like the unfaithfulness of the house of Ahab, and have also murdered your brothers of the house of your father who were better than you, ¹⁴ behold, Yahweh is inflicting a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, ¹⁵ and you yourself will be afflicted with great illness, with sickness in your bowels, until your bowels come out on account of the illness, day by day.’”

¹⁶ And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who were near^[h] the Cushites against Jehoram. ¹⁷ And they came up against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions found in the house of the king, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz his youngest son.

¹⁸ And after all this Yahweh afflicted him in his bowels with an illness for which there was no cure. ¹⁹ And it happened that after many days, at the end of two years,^[i] his bowels came out because of his illness, and he died in terrible agony. And his people did not make a fire for him like the fire for his ancestors.^{[j] 20} He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed^[k] with no one’s regret. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the burial sites of the kings.

The Reign of Ahaziah

22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the band of men who had come with the Arabs to the camp had murdered all the older sons. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, reigned. ² Ahaziah was forty-two^[l] years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter^[m] of Omri. ³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor for doing wickedness. ⁴ And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as the house of Ahab had done, for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father. ⁵ He also walked in their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael king of Aram^[n] at Ramoth-Gilead. And the Arameans wounded Joram. ⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds he had suffered at Ramah, when he made war against Hazael king of Aram.^[o] And Azariah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezreel for he was sick.

⁷ But the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, and intended to come to Joram. And when he came, he went out with Jehoram to Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. ⁸ And it happened that when Jehu was judging the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah who ministered to Ahaziah, and he killed them. ⁹ And he searched for Ahaziah and captured him. And he was hiding in Samaria. And they brought him to Jehu and put him to death. And they buried him, for they said, “He is the descendant^[p] of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with his whole heart.” And the house of Ahab had no one to exercise power over the kingdom.

The Reign of Athaliah

¹⁰ Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and murdered all the royal descendants^[q] of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehosheba the daughter of the king took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and kidnapped him away from the sons of the king who were to be put to death. And she put him and his nurse in a private bedroom. So Jehosheba the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from before Athaliah so that she did not put him to death. ¹² And he was hidden with them in the house of God six years, but Athaliah reigned over the land.

Joash Is Made King

23 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and took with him into a covenant relationship the commanders of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zicri. ² And they went around in Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the families^[r] of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³ And all the assembly made^[s] a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, “Behold, the son of the king shall reign as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David. ⁴ This is the thing that you must do: one third of you priests and Levites coming off duty on the Sabbath^[t] shall be gatekeepers at the entrances, ⁵ and one third at the house of the king, and one third at the Gate of the Foundation. And all the people shall be in the courtyards of the house of Yahweh. ⁶ Let no one enter into the house of Yahweh except the priests and the ministering Levites. They themselves may enter, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the requirements of Yahweh. ⁷ And the Levites shall surround the king all around, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever comes into the house shall be put to death. You shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

⁸ And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And they each took his men who were coming off duty on the Sabbath^[u] with the ones going out to duty on the Sabbath,^[v] for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the working groups. ⁹ And Jehoiada the priest gave the spears and small shields that had belonged to King David that were in the house of God to the commanders of hundreds. ¹⁰ And he appointed all the people, each with his weapon in his hand from the south side of the house to the north side of the house around the altar and the house. ¹¹ Then they brought out the son of the king and set upon him the crown and gave him the statute and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”^[w]

¹² When Athaliah heard the sound of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people at the house of Yahweh. ¹³ And she looked and, behold, the king was standing by his column at the entrance, and the commanders and trumpeters beside the king, along with all the people of the land, rejoicing and blowing with trumpets, and the singers with the instruments of song leading the praise. And Athaliah tore her garments and cried, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!” ¹⁴ Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of the hundreds appointed over the troops, and he said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever goes after her shall be put to death with the sword.” For the priest had said, “You must not kill her in the house of Yahweh.” ¹⁵ And they laid hands on her, and she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of the house of the king, and they killed her there.

¹⁶ And Jehoiada made^[x] a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be Yahweh’s people. ¹⁷ Then all the people went to the house of Baal and broke it down. And they smashed his altars and his images, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸ And Jehoiada placed appointees at the house of Yahweh under the hand of the Levitical priests whom David had allotted to the house of Yahweh to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh as was written in the law of Moses, with joy and with song, according to the order of David.^{[y] 19} And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of Yahweh so that no person unclean with respect to any matter could enter. ²⁰ And he took the commanders of hundreds, the noblemen, the governors over the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh. And they came through the upper gate to the house of the king, and they 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 killed with the sword.

Joash Repairs the Temple

24 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ² And Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³ And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.

⁴ And afterward it was in the heart of Joash to repair the house of Yahweh. ⁵ So he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to strengthen the house of your God sufficiently year by year. Now you yourselves must hasten to the matter.” But the Levites did not act with haste. ⁶ So the king called Jehoiada the chief, and he said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses, the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?” ⁷ For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had used all the holy vessels of the house of Yahweh for the Baals.

⁸ Then the king commanded, and they made a chest and put it at the gate outside the house of Yahweh. ⁹ And they issued a proclamation^[z] in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God had levied upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and they brought their tax and threw it into the chest until it was finished. ¹¹ And whenever he brought the chest to the appointee of the king by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money in it, then the secretary of the king and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied the chest, then they 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 who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. And they hired stonemasons and skilled craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh. ¹³ So those doing the work labored, and the restoration for the work made progress under their hand. And they restored the house of God to its position and strengthened it. ¹⁴ And when they had finished, they brought the remainder of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and they used it for objects for the house of Yahweh, objects for the service and the burnt offerings, dishes, and objects of gold and silver. And they were offering burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly, all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ And Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. ¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David with the kings, for he did good in Israel and with respect to God and his house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸ And they forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors^[aa] and served the Asherahs and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem on account of this guilt. ¹⁹ But he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to Yahweh. And they testified against them, and they did not obey.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why are you transgressing the commandments of Yahweh so that you will not succeed? For you have forsaken Yahweh, so he will forsake you.’” ²¹ Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh. ²² So King Joash did not remember the loyal love that Jehoiada had shown to him, and he killed his son. And as he was dying he said, “May Yahweh see and avenge!”

The Death of Joash

²³ And it happened at the turn of the year that the army of Aram^[ab] went up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the commanders of the people from among the people, and all the war booty they sent to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ Though the army of Aram^[ac] came with few men, Yahweh gave a very large army into their hand, for they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.^[ad] And they inflicted punishment on Joash.

²⁵ And when they were going away from him (for they had left him with many wounds), his servants conspired against him on account of the blood of the sons^[ae] of Jehoiada the priest. So they killed him on his bed and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him at the burial sites of the kings. ²⁶ Now these are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath, the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith, the Moabite. ²⁷ And as for his sons, the many oracles against him, and his repair of the foundation of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the scroll of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.