^22:1The residents of Jerusalem¹ made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons.² So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. ^22:2Ahaziah was twenty-two³ years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter⁴ of Omri. ^22:3He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty,⁵ for his mother gave him evil advice.⁶^22:4He did evil in the sight of⁷ the Lord like Ahab’s dynasty because, after his father’s death, they⁸ gave him advice that led to his destruction. ^22:5He followed their advice and joined Ahab’s son King Joram⁹ of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria¹⁰ at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. ^22:6Joram¹¹ returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians¹² in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah¹³ son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded.¹⁴

^22:7God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram.¹⁵ When Ahaziah¹⁶ arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned¹⁷ to wipe out Ahab’s family.¹⁸^22:8While Jehu was dishing out punishment to Ahab’s family, he discovered the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives who were serving Ahaziah and killed them. ^22:9He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria.¹⁹ They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned,²⁰ “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart.” There was no one in Ahaziah’s family strong enough to rule in his place.²¹

Athaliah is Eliminated

^22:10When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line²² of Judah.²³^22:11So Jehoshabeath,²⁴ the daughter of King Jehoram,²⁵ took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away²⁶ from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him. ^22:12He remained in hiding in God’s temple²⁷ for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

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Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “for all the older [ones] the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed.”
3 Heb “forty-two,” but the parallel passage in 2 Kgs 8:26 reads “twenty-two” along with some of the and the .
4 The Hebrew term בַּת (bat, “daughter”) can refer, as here, to a granddaughter. See I בַּת 1.
5 Heb “and also he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.”
6 Heb “for his mother was his adviser to do evil.”
7 Heb “in the eyes of.”
8 That is, the members of Ahab’s royal house.
9 Jehoram and Joram are alternate spellings of the Israelite king’s name (also in vv. 6–7). The shorter form is used in these verse to avoid confusion with King Jehoram of Judah, father of Azariah.
10 Heb “Aram” (also in v. 6).
11 Heb “he”; the referent (Joram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
13 Most Hebrew read “Azariah.” A few Hebrew , the , , and read “Ahaziah” (cf. 2 Kgs 8:29).
14 Heb “because he was sick,” presumably referring to the wounds he received in the battle with the Syrians.
15 Heb “From God was the downfall of Ahaziah by going to Joram.”
16 Heb “he”; the referent (Ahaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 Heb “anointed.”
18 Heb “to cut off the house of Ahab.”
19 For location see ; ; ; ; .
20 Heb “they said.”
21 Heb “and there was no one belonging to the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for kingship.”
22 Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum, “arise”) is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
23 Heb “house of Judah.”
24 Jehoshabeath is a variant spelling of the name Jehosheba (2 Kgs 11:2).
25 Heb “the king”; the referent (King Jehoram, see later in this verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 Heb “stole.”
27 Heb “and he was with them in the house of God hiding.”