^13:1In the twenty-third year of the reign of Judah’s King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehu’s son Jehoahaz became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria¹ for seventeen years. ^13:2He did evil in the sight of² the Lord. He continued in³ the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins.⁴^13:3The Lord was furious with⁵ Israel and handed them over to⁶ King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael’s son Ben Hadad for many years.⁷

^13:4Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy⁸ and the Lord responded favorably,⁹ for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria.¹⁰^13:5The Lord provided a deliverer¹¹ for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power.¹² The Israelites once more lived in security.¹³^13:6But they did not repudiate¹⁴ the sinful ways of the family¹⁵ of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins.¹⁶ There was even an Asherah pole¹⁷ standing in Samaria. ^13:7Jehoahaz had no army left¹⁸ except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops¹⁹ and trampled on them like dust.²⁰

^13:8The rest of the events of Jehoahaz’s reign, including all his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.²¹^13:9Jehoahaz passed away²² and was buried²³ in Samaria. His son Joash replaced him as king.

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Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “in the eyes of.”
3 Heb “walked after.”
4 Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”
5 Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against.”
6 Heb “he gave them into the hand of.”
7 Heb “all the days.”
8 Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”
9 Heb “and the Lord heard.”
10 Heb “for he saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Syria oppressed them.”
11 The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
12 Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”
13 Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”
14 Heb “they did not turn away from.”
15 Heb “house.”
16 Heb “in it he walked.” The singular verb (הָלַךְ, halakh) is probably due to an error of haplography and should be emended to the plural (הָלְכּוּ, halÿku). Note that a vav immediately follows (on the form וְגַם, végam).
17 Or “an image of Asherah”; , “the Asherah”; “the Asherah idol.” Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
18 Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.
19 Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.
20 Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”
21 Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jehoahaz, and all which he did and his strength, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”
22 Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
23 Heb “and they buried him.”