Beginning
Jehoram (Joram) King of Judah
21 Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His son Jehoram ruled in his place.
2 Jehoram had brothers, who were the sons of Jehoshaphat. They were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 Their father gave them many gifts: silver, gold, and valuable possessions, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
4 Jehoram ascended to the throne of his father and strengthened his position. Then he killed all his brothers with the sword and also killed some of the officials of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for eight years.
6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, because the daughter of Ahab was his wife. So he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
7 But the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David, when he promised him and his sons that he would keep a light shining for all time.[a]
8 In Jehoram’s days Edom revolted from Judah’s control and set up a king for themselves. 9 So Jehoram crossed over to Edom with his commanders and with all the chariots. He got up at night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot officers. 10 Edom has successfully revolted from the control of Judah to this day. Libnah also revolted from his control at that time because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.
11 Jehoram also made high places in the hill country of Judah and caused those living in Jerusalem to prostitute themselves. He caused Judah to go astray.
12 A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet which said:
This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says. Because you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat and in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but you have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, as the house of Ahab led Israel to prostitute themselves, and because you have even killed your own brothers from your father’s household, who were better than you, 14 the Lord is going to strike a severe blow against your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions. 15 You yourself will have great pain from a disease of your intestines, until your intestines fall out, because the disease is going to last so long.
16 The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the hostility[b] of the Philistines and the Arabs who were next to the Cushites. 17 They came up against Judah, successfully invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found at the king’s palace, as well as his sons and his wives. None of his sons were left except Jehoahaz,[c] the youngest.
18 After all this the Lord struck Jehoram with an incurable disease in his intestines. 19 He suffered day after day, until the end of the second year, when his intestines fell out because of the disease. He died in great pain. His people did not make a bonfire for him like the fires for his fathers.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned as king in Jerusalem for eight years. He departed without anyone regretting it. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
Ahaziah King of Judah
22 The residents of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in Jehoram’s place because the raiding band, which had come to the camp with the Arabs, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram ruled as the king of Judah.
2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri.
3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother was advising him how to do wicked things. 4 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did, because they were his advisors after the death of his father. This led to his destruction.
5 He also followed their advice and went with Jehoram,[d] the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram there. 6 So he returned to Jezre’el to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramah when he was fighting against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah[e] son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezre’el because Jehoram had been wounded.
7 It was due to God that Ahaziah’s downfall came about when he went to visit Joram. After Ahaziah had arrived, he went out with Jehoram[f] to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. 8 When Jehu was carrying out judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers,[g] who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He also searched for Ahaziah and captured him, while he was hiding in Samaria.[h] They brought him to Jehu, who put him to death. They buried him, because they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” There was nobody from the house of Ahaziah strong enough to rule the kingdom.
Athaliah
10 When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went into action and destroyed[i] all the royal heirs[j] belonging to the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath,[k] the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah. She stole him away from among the king’s sons, who were to be killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because she was a sister of Ahaziah, Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid Joash from Athaliah, so that she could not kill him.
12 He was kept hidden with them in the House of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.
Jehoiada Anoints Joash as King
23 In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself[l] by entering into a covenant with the commanders of the hundreds, namely, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Ma’aseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri. 2 They went around Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the leading fathers of Israel, who came to Jerusalem.
3 The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the House of God. Jehoiada said to them:
Look! Here is the king’s son. He will rule as king, just as the Lord has promised concerning the sons of David.
4 This is what you will do. One third of you who are coming on duty on the Sabbath to perform your duties as priests and Levites are to guard the gates. 5 One third of you will be in the palace of the king, and one third at the Foundation Gate.[m] All the people will be stationed in the courtyards of the House of the Lord.
6 No one will come into the house[n] of the Lord except the priests and the Levites who are serving. They are allowed to enter because they are holy. All the rest of the people will follow the directions of the Lord.
7 The Levites will completely surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who enters the house will be put to death. You accompany the king when he comes in and goes out.
8 The Levites and all Judah did exactly as Jehoiada the priest had commanded. Each leader combined the men coming on duty on the Sabbath with those going off duty on the Sabbath, because Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions.
9 Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of the hundreds the spears, the large shields, and the small shields[o] which belonged to King David and which were in the House of God. 10 He stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, in a circle from the south side of the temple building to the north side of the building, around the altar and all around the building, completely surrounding the king.
11 Then they brought out the king’s son. They set the crown on him and gave him the Testimony,[p] and they made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”
Athaliah’s Death
12 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the people who were running and praising the king, she went to the crowd of people at the House of the Lord. 13 She looked, and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officials and the trumpeters were beside the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing the trumpets. The singers with their musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”
14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders who were in charge of the units of a hundred in the army. He told them, “Bring her out between the ranks. Anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword,” but the priest also told them, “You must not put her to death in the House of the Lord.” 15 So they laid their hands on her, and she was taken to the entrance of the Horse Gate by the palace of the king, where she was put to death.
16 Jehoiada made a covenant including himself, all the people, and the king, that they would be the Lord’s people.
17 All the people then went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his images. They killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.
18 Jehoiada posted a watch[q] over the House of the Lord. It was under the supervision of the levitical priests, whom David had given assignments in the House of the Lord to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing as David had directed. 19 He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the House of the Lord, so that no one could enter if he was unclean in any way.
20 He took the commanders of the hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land. He brought the king down from the House of the Lord. They came through the upper gate of the palace of the king. They seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.
21 All the people of the land rejoiced. The city was quiet after they killed Athaliah with the sword.
Joash Repairs the Temple
24 Joash[r] was seven years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah from Beersheba.
2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 Jehoiada obtained two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.
4 After this, it was on Joash’s heart to restore the House of the Lord, 5 so he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel for the repairs to the house of your God. Do this annually. Get started immediately.”
The Levites, however, did not act on it quickly, 6 so the king summoned Jehoiada, the head of the project,[s] and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the Lord, established with the congregation of Israel for the Tent of Testimony?”[t]
7 (Because Athaliah was wicked, her sons had broken into the House of God and used all the dedicated things of the House of the Lord for the Baals.)
8 The king gave a command that a chest was to be made and set outside the gate of the House of the Lord.[u] 9 A proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax imposed upon Israel in the wilderness by Moses, the servant of God, should be brought to the Lord. 10 All the officials and all the people rejoiced. They brought the money and dropped it into the chest until it was full.
11 From time to time the chest was delivered from the custody of the Levites to the king’s administrators. Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of silver in it, the secretary of the king and the administrator of the head priest came and emptied the chest. Then they would take the chest and return it to its place. They did this regularly and collected a large amount of silver.
12 The king and Jehoiada gave the silver to those carrying out the work on the House of the Lord. They hired stonemasons and carpenters to restore the House of the Lord, and also craftsmen who worked with iron and bronze to repair the House of the Lord.
13 The laborers carrying out the project worked hard, and the work of restoration moved forward because of the diligent work of their hands. They restored the House of God to its proper condition and strengthened it.
14 When they finished, they brought the rest of the silver to the king and to Jehoiada. They used it to make items for the House of the Lord, utensils for use in the service and for the burnt offerings, such as small dishes[v] and gold and silver vessels. So they offered burnt offerings in the House of the Lord continually, throughout all the days of Jehoiada.
Joash Turns Away From the Lord
15 Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died. He was one hundred thirty years old at his death.
16 They buried him in the City of David with the kings, because he had done good things for Israel in connection with God and his house.
17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king began to listen to them. 18 They abandoned the House of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and the idols. Wrath fell upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their guilt.
19 God sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. The prophets testified against them, but they did not listen.
20 The Spirit of God came upon[w] Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood in front of the people and said to them, “This is what God says. Why do you disobey the commandments of the Lord? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.”
21 But they conspired against him, and by the command of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the House of the Lord.
22 Thus King Joash did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, his mentor,[x] had shown to him. Instead, he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “The Lord will see and avenge.”
The End of Joash
23 At the end of the year, the army of Aram marched out against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem. They slaughtered all the officials from among the people, and they sent all their spoils to the king of Damascus. 24 Although the army of Aram had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered a very great army into their hand because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Arameans carried out judgment against Joash.
25 When they withdrew, leaving behind Joash, who was severely wounded, his own officials conspired against him because of the blood of the sons[y] of Jehoiada the priest. They violently attacked him on his bed, and he died. They buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad son of Shimath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman.[z]
27 The accounts about his sons, about the many prophetic warnings against him, and about the restoration of the House of God are recorded in the notes in the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah ruled as king in his place.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.