2 Chronicles 21

21^*Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son ^||reigned in his stead. ²And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of ^aIsrael. ³And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of ^bprecious things, with ^cfenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to ^||Jehoram; because he was the firstborn. ⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of ^aIsrael.

^5dJehoram was thirty and two years old when he ^||began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had ^ethe daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. ⁷Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a ^†light to him and to his sons for ever. ^8*In his days the Edomites revolted from under the ^†dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king. ⁹Then Jehoram went forth ^fwith his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the chariots. ¹⁰So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers. ¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and ^gcaused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and ^hcompelled Judah thereto.

¹²And there came a ^||writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in ⁱthe ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in ^kthe ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³But hast walked in ^lthe way of the kings of Israel, and hast ^gmade Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the ^mwhoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast ⁿslain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were ^obetter than thyself: ^14*Behold, with ^†a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: ¹⁵And thou shalt have great sickness by ^pdisease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day. ¹⁶Moreover the Lord ^qstirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the ^rPhilistines, and of the ^rArabians, that were near the ^*sEthiopians: ¹⁷And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and ^†carried away all the ^tsubstance that was found in the king’s house, and ^uhis sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save ^x||*Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. ^18||And after all this the Lord smote him in ^yhis bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two ^zyears, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like ^athe burning of his fathers. ^20bThirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed ^†without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, ^cbut not in the sepulchres of the kings.