2 Kings 13:1-7

1 In the three and twentieth year of Joash , the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, reigned upon Israel, in Samaria seventeen years. (In the twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, began to reign upon Israel, in Samaria, and he reigned for seventeen years.)

2 And he did evil before the Lord, and he followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin; and he bowed not away from those sins.

3 And the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth against Israel, and he betook them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and in(to) the hand of Benhadad, son of Hazael, in all (their) days.

4 Forsooth Jehoahaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him; for he saw the anguish of Israel, for the king of Syria had all-broken them.

5 And the Lord gave a saviour to Israel, and he was delivered from the hand of the king of Syria; and the sons of Israel dwelled in their tabernacles, as yesterday and the third day ago. (And the Lord gave a saviour to Israel, and they were rescued from the hands of the king of Syria; and then the Israelites lived in their homes, like yesterday and the third day ago.)

6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, that made Israel to do sin; but they went in those sins; soothly also the [maumet] wood dwelled in Samaria (and also the idol grove/the sacred pole remained in Samaria).

7 And to Jehoahaz were not left of the people, but five hundred knights, and ten chariots, and ten thousand of footmen (And there were left of the people to Jehoahaz, but five hundred horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen); for the king of Syria had slain them, and had driven them [down] as into powder in the threshing of a cornfloor.

2 Kings 13:1-7 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