Chronological

19 As King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home, uninjured, ² the prophet Jehu (son of Hanani) went out to meet him.

“Should you be helping the wicked, and loving those who hate the Lord?” he asked him. “Because of what you have done, God’s wrath is upon you. ³ But there are some good things about you in that you got rid of the shameful idols throughout the land, and you have tried to be faithful to God.”

⁴ So Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that but remained quietly at Jerusalem. Later he went out again among the people, traveling from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim to encourage them to worship the God of their ancestors. ⁵ He appointed judges throughout the nation in all the larger cities, ⁶ and instructed them:

“Watch your step—I have not appointed you—God has; and he will stand beside you and help you give justice in each case that comes before you. ⁷ Be very much afraid to give any other decision than what God tells you to. For there must be no injustice among God’s judges, no partiality, no taking of bribes.”

⁸ Jehoshaphat set up courts in Jerusalem, too, with the Levites and priests and clan leaders and judges. ⁹ These were his instructions to them: “You are to act always in the fear of God, with honest hearts. ¹⁰ Whenever a case is referred to you by the judges out in the provinces, whether murder cases or other violations of the laws and ordinances of God, you are to clarify the evidence for them and help them to decide justly, lest the wrath of God come down upon you and them; if you do this, you will discharge your responsibility.”

¹¹ Then he appointed Amariah the High Priest to be the court of final appeal in cases involving violation of sacred affairs; and Zebadiah (son of Ishmael), a ruler in Judah, as the court of final appeal in all civil cases; with the Levites as their assistants. “Be fearless in your stand for truth and honesty. And may God use you to defend the innocent,” was his final word to them.

20 Later on the armies of the kings of Moab, Ammon, and of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. ² Word reached Jehoshaphat that “a vast army is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea from Syria. It is already at Hazazon-tamar” (also called Engedi). ³ Jehoshaphat was badly shaken by this news and determined to beg for help from the Lord; so he announced that all the people of Judah should go without food for a time, in penitence and intercession before God. ⁴ People from all across the nation came to Jerusalem to plead unitedly with him. ⁵ Jehoshaphat stood among them as they gathered at the new court of the Temple and prayed this prayer:

⁶ “O Lord God of our fathers—the only God in all the heavens, the ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth—you are so powerful, so mighty. Who can stand against you? ⁷ O our God, didn’t you drive out the heathen who lived in this land when your people arrived? And didn’t you give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? ⁸ Your people settled here and built this Temple for you, ⁹ truly believing that in a time like this—whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or famine—we can stand here before this Temple and before you—for you are here in this Temple—and cry out to you to save us; and that you will hear us and rescue us.

¹⁰ “And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You wouldn’t let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so we went around and didn’t destroy them. ¹¹ Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land which you have given us. ¹² O our God, won’t you stop them? We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We don’t know what to do, but we are looking to you.”

¹³ As the people from every part of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, ¹⁴ the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there—Jahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, who was one of the sons of Asaph).

¹⁵ “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, and you, O king Jehoshaphat!” he exclaimed. “The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid! Don’t be paralyzed by this mighty army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s! ¹⁶ Tomorrow, go down and attack them! You will find them coming up the slopes of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ But you will not need to fight! Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem! Don’t be afraid or discouraged! Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!’”

¹⁸ Then King Jehoshaphat fell to the ground with his face to the earth, and all the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the Kohath clan and the Korah clan stood to praise the Lord God of Israel with songs of praise that rang out strong and clear.

²⁰ Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and called them to attention. “Listen to me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem,” he said. “Believe in the Lord your God and you shall have success! Believe his prophets and everything will be all right!”

²¹ After consultation with the leaders of the people, he determined that there should be a choir leading the march, clothed in sanctified garments and singing the song “His Loving-Kindness Is Forever” as they walked along praising and thanking the Lord! ²² And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other! ²³ For the Ammonites and Moabites turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. And when they had finished that job, they turned against each other! ²⁴ So, when the army of Judah arrived at the watchtower that looks out over the wilderness, as far as they could look there were dead bodies lying on the ground—not a single one of the enemy had escaped. ²⁵ King Jehoshaphat and his people went out to plunder the bodies and came away loaded with money, garments, and jewels stripped from the corpses—so much that it took them three days to cart it all away! ²⁶ On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, as it is called today, and how they praised the Lord!

²⁷ Then they returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that the Lord had given them this marvelous rescue from their enemies. ²⁸ They marched into Jerusalem accompanied by a band of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple. ²⁹ And as had happened before, when the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God fell upon them. ³⁰ So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was quiet, for his God had given him rest.

³¹ A thumbnail sketch of King Jehoshaphat: He became king of Judah when he was thirty-five years old and reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. ³² He was a good king, just as his father Asa was. He continually tried to follow the Lord ³³ with the exception that he did not destroy the idol shrines on the hills, nor had the people as yet really decided to follow the God of their ancestors.

³⁴ The details of Jehoshaphat’s reign from first to last are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

³⁵ But at the close of his life, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went into partnership with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who was a very wicked man. ³⁶ They made ships in Ezion-geber to sail to Tarshish. ³⁷ Then Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, telling him, “Because you have allied yourself with King Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your work.” So the ships met disaster and never arrived at Tarshish.

21 When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in the cemetery of the kings in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah. ² His brothers—other sons of Jehoshaphat—were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. ^3-4 Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of money and jewels, also the ownership of some of the fortified cities of Judah. However, he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the oldest. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all of his brothers and many other leaders of Israel. ⁵ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ But he was as wicked as the kings who were over in Israel. Yes, as wicked as Ahab, for Jehoram had married one of the daughters of Ahab, and his whole life was one constant binge of doing evil. ⁷ However, the Lord was unwilling to end the dynasty of David, for he had made a covenant with David always to have one of his descendants upon the throne.

⁸ At that time the king of Edom revolted, declaring his independence of Judah. ⁹ Jehoram attacked him with his full army and with all of his chariots, marching by night, and almost^[a] managed to subdue him. ¹⁰ But to this day Edom has been successful in throwing off the yoke of Judah. Libnah revolted too because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord God of his fathers. ¹¹ What’s more, Jehoram constructed idol shrines in the mountains of Judah and led the people of Jerusalem in worshiping idols; in fact, he compelled his people to worship them.

¹² Then Elijah the prophet wrote him this letter: “The Lord God of your ancestor David says that because you have not followed in the good ways of your father Jehoshaphat, nor the good ways of King Asa, ¹³ but you have been as evil as the kings over in Israel and have made the people of Jerusalem and Judah worship idols just as in the times of King Ahab, and because you have killed your brothers who were better than you, ¹⁴ now the Lord will destroy your nation with a great plague. You, your children, your wives, and all that you have will be struck down. ¹⁵ You will be stricken with an intestinal disease and your bowels will rot away.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord stirred up the Philistines and the Arabs living next to the Ethiopians to attack Jehoram. ¹⁷ They marched against Judah, broke across the border, and carried away everything of value in the king’s palace, including his sons and his wives; only his youngest son, Jehoahaz, escaped.

¹⁸ It was after this that Jehovah struck him down with the incurable bowel disease. ¹⁹ In the process of time, at the end of two years, his intestines came out, and he died in terrible suffering. (The customary pomp and ceremony was omitted at his funeral.) ²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and died unmourned. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery.

22 Then the people of Jerusalem chose Ahaziah,^[b] his youngest son, as their new king (for the marauding bands of Arabs had killed his older sons). ² Ahaziah was twenty-two years old^[c] when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri. ³ He, too, walked in the evil ways of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. ⁴ Yes, he was as evil as Ahab, for Ahab’s family became his advisors after his father’s death, and they led him on to ruin.

⁵ Following their evil advice, Ahaziah made an alliance with King Joram of Israel (the son of Ahab), who was at war with King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. Ahaziah led his army there to join the battle. King Joram of Israel was wounded ⁶ and returned to Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went to visit him, ⁷ but this turned out to be a fatal mistake; for God had decided to punish Ahaziah for his alliance with Joram. It was during this visit that Ahaziah went out with Joram to challenge Jehu (son of Nimshi), whom the Lord had appointed to end the dynasty of Ahab.

⁸ While Jehu was hunting down and killing the family and friends of Ahab, he met King Ahaziah’s nephews, the princes of Judah, and killed them. ⁹ As he and his men were searching for Ahaziah, they found him hiding in the city of Samaria and brought him to Jehu, who killed him. Even so, Ahaziah was given a royal burial because he was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat—a man who enthusiastically served the Lord. None of his sons, however, except for Joash, lived to succeed him as king, ¹⁰ for their grandmother Athaliah killed them when she heard the news of her son Ahaziah’s death.

¹¹ Joash was rescued by his Aunt Jehoshabeath, who was King Ahaziah’s sister,^[d] and was hidden away in a storage room in the Temple. She was a daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest. ¹² Joash remained hidden in the Temple for six years while Athaliah reigned as queen. He was cared for by his nurse and by his aunt and uncle.

23 In the seventh year of the reign of Queen Athaliah, Jehoiada the priest got up his courage and took some of the army officers into his confidence: Azariah (son of Jeroham), Ishmael (son of Jehohanan), Azariah (son of Obed), Maaseiah (son of Adaiah), and Elishaphat (son of Zichri). ^2-3 These men traveled out across the nation secretly to tell the Levites and clan leaders about his plans and to summon them to Jerusalem. On arrival they swore allegiance to the young king, who was still in hiding at the Temple.

“At last the time has come for the king’s son to reign!” Jehoiada exclaimed. “The Lord’s promise—that a descendant of King David shall be our king—will be true again. ⁴ This is how we’ll proceed: A third of you priests and Levites who come off duty on the Sabbath will stay at the entrance as guards. ^5-6 Another third will go over to the palace, and a third will be at the Lower Gate. Everyone else must stay in the outer courts of the Temple, as required by God’s laws. For only the priests and Levites on duty may enter the Temple itself, for they are sanctified. ⁷ You Levites, form a bodyguard for the king, weapons in hand, and kill any unauthorized person entering the Temple. Stay right beside the king.”

⁸ So all the arrangements were made. Each of the three leaders led a third of the priests arriving for duty that Sabbath, and a third of those whose week’s work was done and were going off duty—for Jehoiada the chief priest didn’t release them to go home. ⁹ Then Jehoiada issued spears and shields to all the army officers. These had once belonged to King David and were stored in the Temple. ¹⁰ These officers, fully armed, formed a line from one side to the other in front of the Temple and around the altar in the outer court. ¹¹ Then they brought out the little prince and placed the crown upon his head, and handed him a copy of the law of God, and proclaimed him king.

A great shout went up, “Long live the king!” as Jehoiada and his sons anointed him.

¹² When Queen Athaliah heard all the noise and commotion and the shouts of praise to the king, she rushed over to the Temple to see what was going on—and there stood the king by his pillar at the entrance, with the army officers and the trumpeters surrounding him, and people from all over the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers singing, accompanied by an orchestra leading the people in a great psalm of praise.

Athaliah ripped her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

^13-14 “Take her out and kill her,” Jehoiada the priest shouted to the army officers. “Don’t do it here at the Temple. And kill anyone who tries to help her.”

^15-17 So the crowd opened up for them to take her out, and they killed her at the palace stables.

Then Jehoiada made a solemn contract that he and the king and the people would be the Lord’s. And all the people rushed over to the temple of Baal and knocked it down, and broke up the altars, and knocked down the idols, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before his altar. ¹⁸ Jehoiada now appointed the Levite priests as guards, and to sacrifice the burnt offering to the Lord as prescribed in the law of Moses. He made the identical assignments of the Levite clans that King David had. They sang with joy as they worked. ¹⁹ The guards at the Temple gates kept out everything that was not consecrated and all unauthorized personnel.

²⁰ Then the army officers, nobles, governors, and all the people escorted the king from the Temple, wending their way from the Upper Gate to the palace, and seated the king upon his throne. ²¹ So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet and peaceful because Queen Athaliah was dead.