Chronological

19 But Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his palace in Jerusalem in peace. ² And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and he said to King Jehoshaphat, “How do you help those who are wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. ³ However, some good things are found in you for you swept away the Asherah poles from the land, and you set your heart to seek after God.”

The Reforms of Jehoshaphat

⁴ Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and he brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers. ⁵ And he set judges in the land among all the fortified cities of Judah, one by one. ⁶ And he said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do because you do not judge according to man but the Lord, and He is with you in the matter of judgment. ⁷ So now may the fear of the Lord be on you. Consider and act well because there is no injustice, partiality, or bribe taking with the Lord our God.”

⁸ Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some from the Levites and the priests and some from the heads of the families of Israel, in order to render judgment and decide disputes before the Lord; and they lived in Jerusalem. ⁹ And he commanded them, “So you will act in the fear of the Lord, in honesty, and with a complete heart. ¹⁰ And any dispute that comes before you all from your brothers who live in their cities, concerning bloodshed or offenses against law or commandment, against statutes or judgments, you will warn them, lest they trespass against the Lord and wrath come upon you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not trespass.

¹¹ “Note that Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king’s matters; also, the Levites will be officials before you. Deal courageously, and the Lord will be with the good.”

Jehoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon

20 After that, the Moabites and the Ammonites, together with some Meunites,^[a] came against Jehoshaphat for battle.

² And some came and declared this to Jehoshaphat, “A large multitude is coming against you from across the Dead Sea from Edom; and observe, they are in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). ³ Then Jehoshaphat was fearful and set himself to seek the Lord, and he called for a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ And Judah was assembled to seek the Lord; even from all the cities of Judah, they came to obtain aid from the Lord.

⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new courtyard, ⁶ and he said:

“O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are strength and might, and there is no one who can oppose You. ⁷ Did You not, our God, drive out those who lived in this land before Your people Israel, and You gave it perpetually to the descendants of Abraham, who was in covenant love with You. ⁸ And they have dwelled in it and have built in it for You a sanctuary for Your name saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, then we will stand before this temple and before You because Your name is in this temple. And we will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver.’

¹⁰ “Now here are the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, when they turned away from them and did not destroy them. ¹¹ See how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out of Your possession, which You have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will You not render judgment on them? For we have not strength enough to stand before this great army that is coming against us. And we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are on You.”

¹³ Now all of Judah was standing before the Lord, even their infants, wives, and children.

¹⁴ And in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite from the line of Asaph.

¹⁵ And he said, “Pay attention all Judah, and those dwelling in Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear, nor be dismayed because of this great army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow, go down against them. They will travel up by the Ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the back of the valley, before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ It will not be necessary for you to fight in this conflict. Take your positions, stand, and observe the deliverance of the Lord for you, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be filled with terror. Tomorrow, go out before them, and the Lord will be with you.”

¹⁸ Then Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground, and all Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem fell before the Lord to worship Him. ¹⁹ And the Levites from the descendants of the Kohathites and Korahites rose up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a very loud voice.

²⁰ So they rose up early in the morning and went out to the Wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be supported. Believe His prophets, and you will succeed.” ²¹ And he consulted with the people and then appointed singers for the Lord and those praising Him in holy attire as they went before those equipped for battle saying,

²² When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were defeated. ²³ Then the Ammonites and Moabites stood up against those dwelling from Mount Seir to destroy and finish them. Then when they made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, each man attacked his companion to destroy each other.

²⁴ And Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, and they turned to the vast army and saw only corpses lying on the ground. And no one was spared. ²⁵ Then Jehoshaphat and his people came to gather their plunder, and they found among them an abundance of riches with the corpses, and precious jewelry, which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much to carry. ²⁶ On the fourth day they gathered at the Valley of Berakah, because there they blessed the Lord. For this reason people have called the name of this place the Valley of Berakah until this day.

²⁷ Then they all returned, every man from Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat as their head, to Jerusalem with joy because the Lord made them rejoice because of the death of their enemies. ²⁸ So they entered Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets to the house of the Lord.

²⁹ And it happened that the terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands who heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, because his God gave him rest on all sides.

The End of Jehoshaphat’s Reign^(A)

³¹ And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began his reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. The name of his mother was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³² He walked in the way of his father Asa, and he did not turn aside from doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. ³³ Only the high places were not taken down. The people had yet to set their hearts to the God of their fathers.

³⁴ And the remainder of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are taken up in the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵ Also, Jehoshaphat king of Judah was united with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted wickedly. ³⁶ Jehoshaphat joined with him to make ships to travel to Tarshish, and they made ships in Ezion Geber. ³⁷ And Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will tear down your works.” So the ships were wrecked, so that they were not able to journey to Tarshish.

21 So Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and Jehoram his son ruled in his place. ² And he had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. ³ And their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and excellent items, along with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

Jehoram, King of Judah^(B)

⁴ Then Jehoram rose up over the kingdom of his father and he became strong. And he killed all his brothers with the sword and even some of the officials in Israel. ⁵ Now Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began as king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel as those from the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was the wife of Jehoram. And 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 that He made with David, and because He said that He would give a lamp to David and his sons for all days.

⁸ In the days of Jehoram, Edom revolted from being under the hand of Judah, and they set a king for themselves. ⁹ So Jehoram passed over to the Edomite territory with his commanders and all his chariots, and it happened that he rose up at night and struck the Edomites, who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders. ¹⁰ So Edom revolted from being under the hand of Judah until this day.

At that time Libnah also revolted from being under their rule, because Jehoram had abandoned the Lord God of his fathers. ¹¹ He even made high places in the hill country of Judah and caused those in Jerusalem to be like prostitutes, and he led Judah astray.

¹² And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying,

“Thus says the Lord God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³ but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, as the house of Ahab led Israel into whoredom, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s house, who were better than you, ¹⁴ the Lord will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions; ¹⁵ and you will have great sickness with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out because of the disease, day by day.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord stirred up the spirit of the Philistines against Jehoram and also the Arabians who were near the Cushites. ¹⁷ And they went up against Judah and broke through, and they took every possession found in the palace of the king, even his sons and wives, so that no son was left with him except his youngest Ahaziah.

The Death of Jehoram

¹⁸ And after all this, the Lord struck him in his entrails with an incurable disease. ¹⁹ And it happened after many days, at the end of two years, his entrails came out due to his disease, so he died by a despicable disease. And his people did not make for him a memorial fire like the fire for his fathers.

²⁰ He was thirty-two when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Ahaziah, King of Judah^(C)

22 Then those in Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place because the raiding party, those coming with the Arabians to the camp, killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram reigned in Jerusalem.

² Now Ahaziah was forty-two years^[b] old when he began to reign, but he only reigned one year in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.

³ And he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab because his mother was the one counseling him to do evil. ⁴ And he also did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for they served as his counselors after his father Jehoram died, which led to his destruction. ⁵ Even Ahaziah walked in their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. And the Arameans wounded Joram, ⁶ and the king returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds that he sustained in Ramah where he fought against Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was wounded.

⁷ And it was from God that a downfall would happen to Ahaziah in regard to his visit with Joram. And when he arrived he went out with Joram to see Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. ⁸ And it happened that when Jehu was acting in judgment with the house of Ahab that he found the rulers of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, who were serving Ahaziah, and Jehu killed them. ⁹ He sought out Ahaziah, and they captured him while he hid in Samaria, and they brought him to Jehu, and they put him to death. And they buried him because they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart.” And there was no one from the house of Ahaziah strong enough to retain the kingdom.

Athaliah Seizes the Throne^(D)

¹⁰ So when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and mounted a campaign to destroy all the royal offspring of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehoshabeath,^[c] the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from the king’s sons who were going to be put to death, and she placed him and his nurse in a bed chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest (since she was a sister of Ahaziah), hid Joash from Athaliah. And she did not put the royal child to death. ¹² And he was hidden away with them in the house of God for six years. And Athaliah ruled over the land.

Joash, King of Judah

23 Then in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the commanders over 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 Zikri. ² And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and even the heads of the fathers’ houses in Israel. Then they all came to Jerusalem.

³ So the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God, and Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son will reign, as the Lord has said of the sons of David. ⁴ And this is the thing that you all will do: A third of you all from the priests and Levites who come on the Sabbath will be gatekeepers, ⁵ one-third will be at the palace of the king and another third at the Foundation Gate. And all the people will be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶ And may no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests and those Levites who are serving. Those can enter because they are holy, but all the people will keep their assigned duty of the Lord. ⁷ Then the Levites will surround the king, each man with his weapon in his hand, and whoever enters the house will be put to death. They will be with the king when he enters and leaves.”

⁸ The Levites and all Judah did everything that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each brought his men, who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, because Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions. ⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had been King David’s, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰ Then he set all the people around the king, each man with his weapon in hand, from the south side to the north side of the temple, from the altar to the temple.

¹¹ Then they brought out the son of the king and set on him the crown and the testimony and they proclaimed him as king. So Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”

The Death of Athaliah

¹² And when Athaliah heard the sound of the people running and praising the king, she went toward the people in the temple of the Lord. ¹³ And she saw the king standing by the pillar at the entrance with the officials and trumpeters next to the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and singers with their instruments with songs were offering up praise. Then Athaliah tore her garments and yelled, “Treachery! Treachery!”

¹⁴ Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders over hundreds, those entrusted over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and let whoever follows her be killed with the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁵ So they seized her, and she went to the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s palace, and they put her to death there.

¹⁶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the people, and the king that they would be a people dedicated to the Lord. ¹⁷ Then all the people went to the temple of Baal, and they tore it down along with its altars, and they shattered its images. And Mattan the priest of Baal, they killed before the altars.

¹⁸ Then Jehoiada placed guards at the house of the Lord, under the supervision of the priests, the Levites whom David allotted for the house of the Lord to make burnt offerings to the Lord as is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and music, according to the direction of David. ¹⁹ And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one might enter who was in any manner unclean.

²⁰ Then he took the commanders over hundreds, the nobles, those in authority over the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord. And they went through the Upper Gate of the palace of the king, and they brought the king to sit on the royal throne. ²¹ And all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city had peace when they put Athaliah to death with the sword.