Chronological
Jehoshaphat Returns to Jerusalem
19 Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in peace to his house in Jerusalem. 2 (A)And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him to his face and said to King Jehoshaphat, “(B)Should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh and [a](C)so bring wrath on yourself from Yahweh? 3 But (D)some good has been found in you, for (E)you have purged the [b]Asheroth from the land and you (F)have set your heart to seek God.”
4 So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. Indeed, he returned and went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and (G)caused them to return back to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
Jehoshaphat Appoints Judges
5 And he appointed (H)judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, in each city. 6 And he said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for (I)you do not judge for man but for Yahweh who is with you [c]when you render judgment. 7 So now then let the dread of Yahweh be upon you; [d]be careful what you do, because [e]with Yahweh our God (J)there is no unrighteousness (K)or partiality or the taking of a bribe.”
8 In Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed some (L)of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of Yahweh and to judge [f]disputes. So they returned to Jerusalem. 9 Then he commanded them saying, “Thus you shall do in the fear of Yahweh, faithfully and wholeheartedly. 10 (M)Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall warn them so that they may not be guilty before Yahweh and (N)wrath may not come on you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not be guilty. 11 And behold, Amariah the chief priest will be over you in [g](O)all that pertains to Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in [h]all that pertains to the king. Also the Levites shall be officers before you. (P)Be strong and act, and Yahweh be with the one who is good.”
War Against Judah
20 Now it happened after this, that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the [i](Q)Ammonites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. 2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of [j]Aram and behold, they are in (R)Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).” 3 And Jehoshaphat was afraid and [k](S)set his face to seek Yahweh, and (T)called for a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to (U)seek help from Yahweh; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh.
Jehoshaphat Before the Assembly
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh before the new court, 6 and he said, “O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, (V)are You not God in the heavens? And (W)are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can take their stand against You. 7 Did You not, O our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and (X)give it to the seed of (Y)Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 9 ‘(Z)Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for (AA)Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.’ 10 So now, behold, (AB)the sons of Ammon and Moab and [l]Mount Seir, (AC)whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), 11 and behold, they are rewarding us by (AD)coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have caused us to possess. 12 O our God, (AE)will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but (AF)our eyes are on You.”
13 Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
Yahweh’s Spirit Comes upon Jahaziel
14 Then in the midst of the assembly (AG)the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; 15 and he said, “Pay attention, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says Yahweh to you, ‘(AH)Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for (AI)the battle is not yours but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You need not fight in this battle; take your stand—(AJ)stand and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, (AK)for Yahweh is with you.”
18 So Jehoshaphat (AL)bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh. 19 Then the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, rose up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
Yahweh Eradicates the Multitude
20 And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, (AM)establish your faith in Yahweh your God and you will be established. Establish your faith in His prophets and succeed.” 21 When he had taken counsel with the people, he caused those who sang to Yahweh and those who (AN)praised Him to stand in holy attire, as they went out before the army, saying, “(AO)Give thanks to Yahweh, for His lovingkindness endures forever.” 22 When they began singing for joy and praising, Yahweh (AP)set ambushes against the sons of (AQ)Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were [m]defeated. 23 Indeed, the sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to devote them to destruction and to utterly eradicate them; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, (AR)they helped to bring one another to ruin.
24 Now Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, and they turned toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses fallen on the ground, and no one had escaped. 25 So Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil and found much among them, including goods, [n]garments, and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much.
Jehoshaphat Returns to Jerusalem
26 Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of [o]Beracah, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore they have named that place “The Valley of [p]Beracah” until today. 27 And every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with gladness, (AS)for Yahweh had made them glad over their enemies. 28 And they came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. 29 And (AT)the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, (AU)for his God gave him rest all around.
31 (AV)Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32 And he walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn away from it, doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh. 33 (AW)The high places, however, were not taken away; (AX)the people had not yet set their hearts to the God of their fathers.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first [q]to last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of (AY)Jehu the son of Hanani, which is [r]recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahaziah
35 (AZ)Afterwards, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly [s]in so doing. 36 So he allied himself with him to make ships to go (BA)to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. 37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works.” So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.
Jehoram Reigns over Judah
21 (BB)And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place. 2 Now he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, [t]Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king (BC)of Israel. 3 And their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold, and precious things, (BD)with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
4 So Jehoram arose over the kingdom of his father and strengthened himself, and he (BE)killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the commanders of Israel also. 5 (BF)Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 (BG)And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, (BH)for Ahab’s daughter was his wife; and he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 7 However, Yahweh was not willing to make the house of David a ruin because of the covenant which He had cut with David, (BI)and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.
Revolt Against Judah
8 In his days (BJ)Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves. 9 Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck down the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots. 10 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his fathers. 11 Moreover, (BK)he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem (BL)to play the harlot and drove Judah astray.
12 Then a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, ‘Because (BM)you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father (BN)and the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but (BO)have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot (BP)as the house of Ahab played the harlot, and you (BQ)have also killed your brothers, [u]your own family, who were better than you, 14 behold, Yahweh is going to smite your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a great [v]calamity; 15 and (BR)you will suffer [w]severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.’”
16 Then (BS)Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and (BT)the Arabs who [x]bordered the Ethiopians; 17 and they went up against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except [y](BU)Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 So after all this Yahweh smote him (BV)in his bowels with an incurable sickness. 19 Now it happened in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died with this greatly painful disease. And his people made no fire for him like (BW)the fire for his fathers. 20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed [z](BX)with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, (BY)but not in the tombs of the kings.
Ahaziah Reigns over Judah
22 (BZ)Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made [aa]Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men who came with (CA)the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah became king. 2 Ahaziah was [ab]twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the [ac]granddaughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly. 4 And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to (CB)his destruction.
Ahaziah Goes with Jehoram of Israel
5 He also walked according to their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the [ad](CC)Arameans struck [ae]Joram. 6 So he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they caused by striking him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And [af]Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
7 Now (CD)the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, in that [ag]he went to Joram. And when he came, (CE)he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, (CF)whom Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
Jehu Kills the Princes of Judah
8 (CG)Now it happened when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers attending to Ahaziah, and killed them. 9 (CH)And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding himself in Samaria; they brought him to Jehu, put him to death, (CI)and buried him. For they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, (CJ)who sought Yahweh with all his heart.” So there was no one of the house of Ahaziah to retain the power of the kingdom.
10 (CK)Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son had died. So she rose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. 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 she did not put him to death. 12 So he was hidden with them in the house of God six years while Athaliah was reigning over the land.
Jehoiada Makes Joash King
23 (CL)Now in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took commanders of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Johanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, and they entered into a covenant with him. 2 And they went around Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the fathers’ households of (CM)Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 Then all the assembly cut a covenant with the king in the house of God. And [ah]Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, (CN)as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David. 4 This is the thing which you shall do: one-third of you, of the priests and Levites (CO)who come in on the sabbath, shall be gatekeepers at the thresholds, 5 and one-third shall be at the king’s house, and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Yahweh. 6 But let no one enter the house of Yahweh except the priests and (CP)the ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy. And let all the people keep the charge of Yahweh. 7 And the Levites will surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the house, let him be put to death. And be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss any of (CQ)the divisions. 9 Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and the shields and small shields which had been King David’s, which were in the house of God. 10 And he caused all the people to stand, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the right [ai]side of the house to the left [aj]side of the house, by the altar and by the house, around the king. 11 Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him, and gave him (CR)the testimony and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “(CS)Long live the king!”
Athaliah Put to Death
12 Then Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, so she came into the house of Yahweh to the people. 13 And she looked, and behold, the king was standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the commanders and the [ak]trumpeters were beside the king. And all the people of the land were glad and blew trumpets, the singers with their musical instruments [al]leading the praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, “Treason! Treason!” 14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of hundreds who were appointed over the military force and said to them, “Bring her out [am]between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be put to death with the sword.” For the priest said, “You shall not put her to death in the house of Yahweh.” 15 So they laid hands on her, and when she arrived at the entrance of (CT)the Horse Gate of the king’s house, they (CU)put her to death there.
Jehoiada Cuts a Covenant
16 Then (CV)Jehoiada cut a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they would be the people of Yahweh. 17 And all the people came to the house of Baal and tore it down, and his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they (CW)killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 And Jehoiada placed the assignments concerning the house of Yahweh in the hand of (CX)the Levitical priests, (CY)whom David had divided by lot to be over the house of Yahweh, to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses—(CZ)with gladness and singing according to the [an]order of David. 19 And he caused (DA)the gatekeepers of the house of Yahweh to stand, so that no one would enter who was in any way unclean. 20 (DB)And he took the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of Yahweh, and they came through the upper gate to the king’s house. And they sat the king upon the royal throne. 21 So (DC)all of the people of the land were glad, and the city was quiet. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword.
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