Chronological

Jehu warns King Jehoshaphat

19 King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned safely to his home in Jerusalem. ² The prophet Jehu, Hanani's son, went to meet him. He said to King Jehoshaphat, ‘You agreed to help a wicked man. You became the friend of someone who hates the Lord. You should not have done that. You have caused the Lord to be very angry with you.^{[a] 3} But you have done some good things. You have removed the Asherah poles from Judah's land. You have chosen to serve God.’

Jehoshaphat chooses some men to be judges

⁴ King Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. He also travelled around the country to meet people. He went everywhere, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim.^[b] He warned the people to turn back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ⁵ He chose men to be judges. He put them everywhere in Judah, in each strong city. ⁶ He said to them, ‘Be careful how you do your job. Remember that you are not being a judge to please men. You are doing it to please the Lord. He will help you to decide what is right. ⁷ Respect the Lord's authority. Be careful to do your job well. The Lord our God is always fair. So be fair to everyone, whoever they are. Do not cheat people. Do not accept bribes.’

⁸ Jehoshaphat also chose some Levites, priests and clan leaders to serve the Lord as judges in Jerusalem. They used God's law to decide who was right when people who lived in Jerusalem had arguments.

⁹ He said to them, ‘Serve the Lord faithfully and respect his authority. ¹⁰ You must warn the people who come from their towns and they ask you to judge an argument for them. The argument may be about a murder, or about anyone who has not obeyed God's laws, rules and commands. Whatever it is, you must warn people not to do things that the Lord says are wrong. If you do not warn them, God will be angry with you and the people of Judah. But if you do warn them, you will not be guilty of a sin.

¹¹ Amariah, the most important priest, will have authority over you. He will tell you what the Lord's law says is right. But if it is an argument about the king's laws, Ishmael's son Zebadiah, the officer who rules Judah, will decide what is right. The Levites will serve as your officers. Be brave and do your work well. The Lord will help you to do what is right!’

Jehoshaphat fights against Moab and Ammon

20 After that, armies from Moab and Ammon, as well as some Meunites, attacked Jehoshaphat.^[c]

² Some men brought this news to Jehoshaphat: ‘A large army is coming from the other side of the Dead Sea to attack you. They came from Edom and they are already in Hazezon Tamar.’ (That is another name for En Gedi.)

³ Jehoshaphat was afraid. So he decided to ask the Lord what he should do. He commanded all the people in Judah that they must fast. ⁴ Judah's people came together to ask the Lord for his help. They came from every town in Judah to pray to the Lord.

Jehoshaphat's prayer

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood up in front of the people of Jerusalem and the other places in Judah. He was standing in front of the new yard of the Lord's temple. ⁶ He prayed, ‘Lord, you are the God of our ancestors. You are the God who is in heaven and you rule over all kingdoms and nations. You are strong and powerful. Nobody can fight against you and win. ⁷ Our God, you chased out the people who were living in this land, so that your people, the Israelites, could move in. You have given this land to the descendants of your friend Abraham. It belongs to them for ever. ⁸ Your people made their homes here and they built a temple to give honour to your name. When they built it, they said, ⁹ “In the future, we may have trouble. There might be war, disease, famine or some other punishment. If that happens, we will come to you and we will stand in front of this temple. You have chosen this place to be your home. We will call out to you to help us when we are in trouble. Then you will hear us and you will rescue us.”

¹⁰ But now soldiers from Ammon, Moab and Edom are coming to attack us. When the Israelites were escaping from Egypt, you would not allow them to attack those lands. So our people turned away and they did not destroy those people. ¹¹ But now those people want to destroy us! They are coming to chase us out of the land that you gave to us as our home. ¹² So, our God, please punish these people! We are not strong enough to fight against this large army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do. But we are asking you to help us.’

The Lord speaks to Jahaziel

¹³ As King Jehoshaphat prayed, all the men of Judah were standing there at the temple. They had their babies, their wives and their children with them.

¹⁴ Then the Lord's Spirit came with power to Jahaziel as he stood among the people. Jahaziel was a Levite, a descendant of Asaph. He was the son of Zechariah, who was the son of Benaiah, who was the son of Jeiel, who was the son of Mattaniah.

¹⁵ Jahaziel said, ‘Listen to me all you people of Judah. That includes you people who live in Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat too. The Lord says to you, “Do not be afraid because this large army is coming to attack you. You must be brave! This is God's battle, not your battle. ¹⁶ Tomorrow, you must march out of here to attack them. They will be coming up the road through the hills at Ziz. You will meet them at the end of the narrow valley that is on the east side of the Jeruel desert. ¹⁷ You will not have to fight in this battle. Go to your places and stand still. Then you will see the Lord rescue you. People of Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid. Be brave! Tomorrow you must march out of here towards the enemy army. The Lord is with you!” ’

¹⁸ Then Jehoshaphat bent down with his face towards the ground. All the people of Judah and the people who lived in Jerusalem also bent down to worship the Lord. ¹⁹ Then some Levites stood up. They praised the Lord, Israel's God, with loud voices. They belonged to the clans of Kohath and Korah.

The Lord fights against Judah's enemies

²⁰ Early the next morning, Jehoshaphat prepared to leave with his army. They started to march to the Tekoa desert. When they were ready to leave, Jehoshaphat stood up and he said, ‘Listen to me, people of Judah and people who live in Jerusalem! Trust in the Lord your God. Then you will be safe. Believe the message that his prophets have spoken. Then you will win the battle.’

²¹ Jehoshaphat spoke with the people. He chose some musicians to march in front of his army. They sang songs to worship the Lord and to praise him for his holy power. As they marched, they sang, ‘We thank the Lord! His faithful love continues for ever!’

²² As the musicians began to sing, the Lord suddenly made the soldiers of Judah's enemies confused. ²³ The soldiers from Ammon and Moab started to attack the soldiers from Edom. They destroyed Edom's army. When they had done that, they started to fight against each other. So they all destroyed one another. ²⁴ Judah's soldiers came to a tower from where they could see the desert. They looked at the large army of their enemies. But they could not see any soldier who was still alive! They only saw dead bodies that were lying on the ground.

²⁵ So Jehoshaphat and his men went to take things from the dead soldiers. They found a lot of weapons, clothes and other valuable things. They took as many things as they could carry. There were so many things that it took them three days to take them all away. ²⁶ On the fourth day they all met together in Berakah valley. There they praised the Lord. That is why that place is still called Berakah valley.^[d]

Judah's people return to Jerusalem

²⁷ Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned to Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat marched in front of them. They were very happy because the Lord had helped them. He had caused them to win the fight against their enemies. ²⁸ As they went into Jerusalem, they made music with harps, lyres and trumpets. They went to the Lord's temple.

²⁹ People in all the kingdoms around Judah heard that the Lord had fought against Israel's enemies. So they became afraid of God's power. ³⁰ There was a time of peace in Jehoshaphat's kingdom. God kept them safe from the nations all around.

Jehoshaphat continues to rule Judah

³¹ So Jehoshaphat continued to rule Judah as king. He was 35 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 25 years. His mother's name was Azubah. She was the daughter of Shilhi. ³² Jehoshaphat lived in the good way that his father Asa had lived. He only did things that the Lord says are right. ³³ But he did not remove all the altars that were on the hills. The people still did not want to be completely faithful to the God of their ancestors.

³⁴ The other things that happened while Jehoshaphat was king are written in a book. Hanani's son Jehu recorded all of them in his book, which is part of ‘The history of Israel's kings’.

³⁵ While Jehoshaphat was king, he became a friend of King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil things. ³⁶ They agreed to build big ships that would bring things from countries that were far away. They built the ships in Ezion-Geber. ³⁷ Dodavahu's son Eliezer from Mareshah warned Jehoshaphat with a message from the Lord. He said, ‘You should not have become a friend of Ahaziah. Because of that, the Lord will destroy the things that you have made.’

A storm destroyed the ships and they never went anywhere.

Jehoram becomes king of Judah

21 Jehoshaphat died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram became king after him. ² Jehoram had brothers who were also sons of Jehoshaphat. They were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these men were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Judah.^{[e] 3} Their father had given them many gifts of silver, gold and other valuable things. He gave them authority over the strong cities of Judah. But Jehoshaphat chose Jehoram be the next king because he was his oldest son.

⁴ Jehoram made himself a strong king to rule over his father's kingdom. Then he killed all his brothers, as well as some of the Israelite leaders. ⁵ He was 32 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years.

⁶ He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He did what the family of Ahab had done. He married a daughter of King Ahab and he became as wicked as King Ahab's family was. He did things that the Lord said were evil. ⁷ But the Lord did not want to destroy all David's descendants, because of his promise to David. He had promised that King David would always have descendants who would rule the nation.

Edom fights against Judah

⁸ While Jehoram was king, Edom's people turned against Judah. They would no longer accept the king of Judah's authority over them. They decided to have their own king. ⁹ So King Jehoram travelled to Zair with his army officers and all his chariots.^[f] The Edomite army came and they were all around him. But that night, Jehoram and his officers attacked the Edomites and they escaped. ¹⁰ Even today, Edom's people do not obey the rulers of Judah. The people of Libnah city also turned against Judah at the same time. That happened because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

¹¹ He also built altars on the hills of Judah. He caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn away from the Lord and worship false gods.^[g]

Elijah gives a message to King Jehoram

¹² The prophet Elijah wrote a letter to Jehoram. This is what it said:

‘The Lord, the God of your ancestor David says, “You have not lived in a good way as your father Jehoshaphat did and as King Asa of Judah did. ¹³ Instead, you have lived in the way that the kings of Israel live. You have caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn away from the Lord and worship false gods. That is the same as King Ahab's family has done in Israel. You have also killed your own brothers, your father's sons. They were better men than you are. ¹⁴ So now the Lord will send terrible trouble on your people, including your children, your wives and everything that belongs to you. ¹⁵ You will have a bad disease. You will have terrible pain in your stomach that becomes worse and worse. Finally, your inside parts will come out of your body.” ’

¹⁶ There were some Philistines and Arabs who lived near people from Ethiopia. The Lord caused them to be angry with Jehoram. ¹⁷ They attacked Judah and they took power over the land. They took away all the valuable things in the king's palace. They took his sons and his wives as their prisoners. The only son of Jehoram that remained was his youngest son, Ahaziah.^[h]

Jehoram dies

¹⁸ After all this happened, the Lord caused Jehoram to have a bad disease in his stomach. He could not become well again. ¹⁹ He was very ill for two years, and then his inside parts came out because of the illness. So he had a lot of pain until he died. His people did not make a big fire to give him honour, as they had done for his ancestors.

²⁰ Jehoram was 32 years old when he started to rule. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. When he died, nobody was sad. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the place where they had buried the other kings.

Ahaziah becomes king of Judah

22 The people who lived in Jerusalem chose Jehoram's youngest son, Ahaziah, to become king. The group of men who came into the city with the Arabs had killed all Jehoram's older sons. So Jehoram's son Ahaziah became the king of Judah.

² Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.^[i]

³ Ahaziah lived in the same bad way that Ahab's family had done. His mother taught him to do wicked things. ⁴ He did things that the Lord said were evil, as Ahab's family had done. Ahab's family became advisors to Ahaziah after his father died, and they caused Ahaziah's death. ⁵ They told him to join with Ahab's son, King Joram of Israel, to fight against King Hazael of Syria. They fought a battle at Ramoth Gilead. The Syrian army won the fight and they hurt King Joram. ⁶ Joram returned to Jezreel, so that his wounds could get better after the battle. While he was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him, because of his wounds.

Jehu kills Ahaziah and his people

⁷ When Ahaziah visited Joram, God used it to cause Ahaziah's death. When Ahaziah arrived, he went with Joram to meet Nimshi's son Jehu. But the Lord had chosen Jehu to kill all Ahab's family. ⁸ While Jehu was destroying Ahab's family, he met some of the officers of Judah who had come with Ahaziah. Jehu killed them, as well as some of Ahaziah's relatives who had travelled with him. ⁹ Then he went to look for Ahaziah. Jehu's men caught him in the city of Samaria, where he was hiding. They took him to Jehu. Then they punished him with death. They buried him properly, because they said, ‘He was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat who served the Lord faithfully.’

Now there was nobody in Ahaziah's family who had the authority to rule Judah as king.

Athaliah rules Judah

¹⁰ Ahaziah's mother Athaliah heard the news that her son was dead. So she started to kill everyone in Judah's royal family.

¹¹ But King Jehoram's daughter Jehosheba rescued Ahaziah's son Joash. When Athaliah's servants had come to murder the royal sons, Jehosheba took Joash away and she hid him. She put him in a bedroom in the temple with his nurse. Jehosheba was Ahaziah's sister and she was the wife of Jehoiada, the priest. So she hid Joash from Athaliah to stop her from killing him. ¹² Joash stayed safely in a room in God's temple while Queen Athaliah ruled Judah for six years.

Joash becomes king of Judah

23 In the seventh year that Queen Athaliah ruled Judah, the priest Jehoiada decided to be brave. He made an agreement with some officers in the army. Each of these men had authority over 100 soldiers. They were: Jeroham's son Azariah, Jehohanan's son Ishmael, Obed's son Azariah, Adaiah's son Maaseiah and Zikri's son Elishaphat. ² They travelled around all the land of Judah. They brought together the Levites from the different cities and the leaders of Israel's clans. They all came to Jerusalem. ³ They met together in God's temple to make a promise to the new king.

Jehoiada said to them, ‘Here is the king's son.^[j] He must become king, as the Lord promised that David's descendants would be. ⁴ This is what you must do: The priests and Levites who come to work on the Sabbath day must make three groups. One group must be guards who watch at the doors of the temple. ⁵ Another group will watch at the king's palace. The third group will stand at the Foundation Gate. All the other men will stand in the yards around the Lord's temple. ⁶ Only the priests and the Levites who have work there on that day may go into the Lord's temple. They may go in because they have made themselves clean to serve God. All the other people must do the jobs that the Lord has given to them. ⁷ The Levites must stand around the king. Each man must hold his weapon in his hand. If anyone tries to come into the temple, you must kill them. You must stay near to the king everywhere that he goes.’

⁸ The Levites and all the men of Judah did what Jehoiada the priest told them to do. Each officer brought his group of men. That included the men who worked on the Sabbath and those who did not. Jehoiada the priest did not allow any of the groups of men to go home. ⁹ Then Jehoiada gave some weapons that were in God's temple to the officers. He gave them the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David. ¹⁰ Then he put the men in their proper places around the king. They all held their weapons in their hands. They stood in a line from the south side of the temple to the north side. They were around the altar at the front of the temple.

¹¹ Jehoiada and his sons brought the king's son out of the temple room. They put the crown onto Joash's head. They gave him a copy of the royal covenant. They poured olive oil on his head to show that he was now the king. They shouted, ‘May the king have a long life!’

Queen Athaliah dies

¹² Queen Athaliah heard the soldiers and the people as they shouted and praised the new king. So she went to the Lord's temple where all the people were. ¹³ Then she saw the king! He was standing in the king's place beside the pillar at the entrance of the temple.^[k] The army officers and the men with trumpets were standing beside the king. All the people of Judah were shouting with joy. There were musicians making music with trumpets and other musical instruments. They helped the people to sing and to praise God.

When Athaliah saw this, she was very upset. She tore her clothes. She shouted, ‘Treason! Treason!’^[l]

¹⁴ Jehoiada the priest sent a message to the army officers who had authority over groups of 100 soldiers. He told them, ‘Bring her out of the temple to the line of guards outside. Use your swords to kill anyone who follows her.’ That was because Jehoiada had said, ‘You must not kill her inside the Lord's temple.’ ¹⁵ So they took hold of Athaliah. They took her through the gate for the king's horses into the yard of the palace. They killed her there.

Jehoiada helps the people to serve God

¹⁶ Jehoiada prepared a covenant with the Lord. He, all the people and the king agreed to serve the Lord as his people. ¹⁷ All the people went to the temple of Baal. They destroyed it. They completely knocked down its altars and idols. They killed Baal's priest, Mattan, in front of Baal's altars.

¹⁸ Then Jehoiada gave jobs to the priests and the Levites to do in the Lord's temple. That was the work that King David had told them to do in the temple. They had to offer burnt offerings as sacrifices to the Lord, and they had to praise him with happy songs. They did the things that Moses had written in God's law and that David had taught. ¹⁹ Jehoiada put guards at the gates of the Lord's temple. They would stop anyone who was unclean from going in.

²⁰ Jehoiada called together the officers of army groups, the important men, the government officers and all the other people. Jehoiada led them all to bring the king down from the Lord's temple into the palace. They went into the palace through the Higher Gate. They put Joash on the royal throne as king.

²¹ All the people were very happy. There was no longer any trouble in Jerusalem now that they had killed Athaliah as her punishment.