2 Chronicles 22

Ahaziah’s Reign

22:1 The 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. 22:2 Ahaziah 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. 22:3 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty,⁵ for his mother gave him evil advice.⁶ 22:4 He 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. 22:5 He 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. 22:6 Joram¹¹ 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

22:7 God 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 22:8 While 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. 22:9 He 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

22:10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line²² of Judah.²³ 22:11 So 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. 22:12 He remained in hiding in God’s temple²⁷ for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

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