2 Kings 13:10-25

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash^[a] the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.

11 He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ¹which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.

12 ²Now the rest of the acts of Joash ³and all that he did, ⁴and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

13 So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The Death of Elisha

14 Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, ⁵"My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

15 And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows.

16 Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow," and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.

17 And he said, "Open the window eastward," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ⁶Aphek until you have made an end of them."

18 And he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them." And he struck three times and stopped.

19 Then ⁷the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only ⁸three times."

20 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of ⁹Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.

21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

22 ¹⁰Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

23 ¹¹But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, ¹²and he turned toward them, ¹³because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

24 When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

25 Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities ¹⁴that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. ¹⁵Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Kings 13:10-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 13

This chapter gives an account of the wicked reign of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, and of the low estate he was brought into by the Syrians, 2Ki 13:1-9, and of the reign of his son Joash, 2Ki 13:10-13, and of the sickness and death of Elisha; of the visit Joash made him in his sickness; and of his prediction of the king's success against the Syrians; and of the reviving of a dead man cast into the prophet's sepulchre, 2Ki 13:14-21 and of the success of Joash against the Syrians, according to the prediction of the prophet, 2Ki 13:22-25.

\\of Judah\\ The same year he was so zealous and busy in repairing the temple, 2Ki 12:6,

\\Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria\\; whereas Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and Jehu reigned but twenty eight years, 2Ki 10:36, and 2Ki 12:1, this could be but the twenty first of Joash; to reconcile which it must be observed, that it was at the beginning of the seventh year of Jehu that Joash began to reign, and at the beginning of the twenty third of Joash that Jehoahaz began to reign, as the Jewish commentators observe:

\\and reigned seventeen years\\; the two last of which were in common with his son, as Junius, see 2Ki 13:10 17831-941219-2104-2Ki13.2

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 2 above]
• 2. 2 Kings 14:15
• 3. See ver. 14-19, 25
• 4. See 2 Kings 14:8-14
• 5. 2 Kings 2:12
• 6. 1 Kings 20:26
• 7. See Deuteronomy 33:1
• 8. ver. 25
• 9. 2 Kings 1:1; 2 Kings 3:7; 2 Kings 24:2
• 10. 2 Kings 8:12
• 11. 2 Kings 14:27
• 12. [Exodus 2:24, 25]
• 13. Exodus 32:13
• 14. [2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 14:25]
• 15. ver. 18, 19; [Amos 1:4]

Footnotes

• [a]. Jehoash is another spelling for Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in verses 9, 12-14; also verse 25