2 Chronicles 21; 2 Chronicles 22

1 Jehoshaphat died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, the city of David. Then his son Jehoram became king in his place.

2 Jehoram's brothers were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. They were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

3 Jehoshaphat gave his sons many gifts of silver, gold, and valuable things, and he gave them strong, walled cities in Judah. But Jehoshaphat gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the first son.

4 When Jehoram took control of his father's kingdom, he killed all his brothers with a sword and also killed some of the leaders of Judah.

5 He was thirty-two years old when he began to rule, and he ruled eight years in Jerusalem.

6 He followed in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the family of Ahab had done, because he married Ahab's daughter. Jehoram did what the Lord said was wrong.

7 But the Lord would not destroy David's family because of the agreement he had made with David. He had promised that one of David's descendants would always rule.

8 In Jehoram's time, Edom broke away from Judah's rule and chose their own king.

9 So Jehoram went to Edom with all his commanders and chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but Jehoram got up and attacked the Edomites at night.

10 From then until now the country of Edom has fought against the rule of Judah. At the same time the people of Libnah also broke away from Jehoram because Jehoram left the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

11 Jehoram also built places to worship gods on the hills in Judah. He led the people of Jerusalem to sin, and he led the people of Judah away from the Lord.

12 Then Jehoram received this letter from Elijah the prophet: This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says, "Jehoram, you have not lived as your father Jehoshaphat lived and as Asa king of Judah lived.

13 But you have lived as the kings of Israel lived, leading the people of Judah and Jerusalem to sin against God, as Ahab and his family did. You have killed your brothers, and they were better than you.

14 So now the Lord is about to punish your people, your children, wives, and everything you own.

15 You will have a terrible disease in your intestines that will become worse every day. Finally it will cause your intestines to come out."

16 The Lord caused the Philistines and the Arabs who lived near the Cushites to be angry with Jehoram.

17 So the Philistines and Arabs attacked Judah and carried away all the wealth of Jehoram's palace, as well as his sons and wives. Only Jehoram's youngest son, Ahaziah, was left.

18 After these things happened, the Lord gave Jehoram a disease in his intestines that could not be cured.

19 After he was sick for two years, Jehoram's intestines came out because of the disease, and he died in terrible pain. The people did not make a fire to honor Jehoram as they had done for his ancestors.

20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled eight years in Jerusalem. No one was sad when he died. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the graves for the kings.

1 The people of Jerusalem chose Ahaziah, Jehoram's youngest son, to be king in his place. The robbers who had come with the Arabs to attack Jehoram's camp had killed all of Jehoram's older sons. So Ahaziah began to rule Judah.

2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.

3 Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab's family, because his mother encouraged him to do wrong.

4 Ahaziah did what the Lord said was wrong, as Ahab's family had done. They gave advice to Ahaziah after his father died, and their bad advice led to his death.

5 Following their advice, Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to Ramoth in Gilead, where they fought against Hazael king of Aram. The Arameans wounded Joram.

6 So Joram returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds he received at Ramoth when he fought Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram and king of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel because he had been wounded.

7 God caused Ahaziah's death when he went to visit Joram. Ahaziah arrived and went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had appointed to destroy Ahab's family.

8 While Jehu was punishing Ahab's family, he found the leaders of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives who served Ahaziah, and Jehu killed them all.

9 Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah. Jehu's men caught him hiding in Samaria, so they brought him to Jehu. Then they killed and buried him. They said, "Ahaziah is a descendant of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord with all his heart." No one in Ahaziah's family had the power to take control of the kingdom of Judah.

10 When Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she killed all the royal family in Judah.

11 But Jehosheba, King Jehoram's daughter, took Joash, Ahaziah's son. She stole him from among the other sons of the king who were going to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram's daughter and Ahaziah's sister and the wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid Joash so Athaliah could not kill him.

12 He hid with them in the Temple of God for six years. During that time Athaliah ruled the land.