2 Chronicles 21-24

2 Chronicles 21

¹And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

²Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; these were all sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

³Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and precious things, as well as the fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

⁴When Jehoram had established himself over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened himself by putting to the sword all his brothers along with some of the princes of Israel.

⁵Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

⁶And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD.

⁷Yet the LORD was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

⁸In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.

⁹So Jehoram crossed into Edom with his officers and all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night.

¹⁰So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled against his hand at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.

¹¹Jehoram had also built high places on the hills of Judah; he had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

¹²Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, which stated: “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah,

¹³but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have also killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you.

¹⁴So behold, the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a serious blow.

¹⁵And day after day you yourself will suffer from a severe illness, a disease of your bowels, until it causes your bowels to come out.’”

¹⁶Then the LORD stirred against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and Arabs who lived near the Cushites.

¹⁷So they went to war against Judah, invaded it, and carried off all the possessions found in the king’s palace, along with his sons and wives; not a son was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest.

¹⁸After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels.

¹⁹This continued day after day until two full years had passed. Finally, his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died in severe pain. And his people did not make a fire in his honor as they had done for his fathers.

²⁰Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

2 Chronicles 22

¹Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place, since the raiders who had come into the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

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

³Ahaziah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in wickedness.

⁴And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for to his destruction they were his counselors after the death of his father.

⁵Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

⁶So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

⁷Ahaziah’s downfall came from God when he went to visit Joram. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

⁸So while Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the rulers of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers who were serving Ahaziah, and he killed them.

⁹Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah, and Jehu’s soldiers captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. So Ahaziah was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” So no one was left from the house of Ahaziah with the strength to rule the kingdom.

¹⁰When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.

¹¹But Jehoshabeath daughter of King Jehoram took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she could not kill him.

¹²And Joash remained hidden with them in the house of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

2 Chronicles 23

¹Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the commanders of hundreds—with Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

²So they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the families of Israel. And when they came to Jerusalem,

³the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. “Behold, the king’s son!” said Jehoiada. “He must reign, just as the LORD promised concerning the descendants of David.

⁴This is what you are to do: A third of you priests and Levites who come on duty on the Sabbath shall keep watch at the doors,

⁵a third shall be at the royal palace, and a third at the Foundation Gate, while all the others are to be in the courtyards of the house of the LORD.

⁶No one is to enter the house of the LORD except the priests and those Levites who serve; they may enter because they are consecrated, but all the people are to obey the requirement of the LORD.

⁷The Levites must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who enters the temple must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did everything that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields of King David that were in the house of God.

¹⁰He stationed all the troops, with their weapons in hand, surrounding the king by the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.

¹¹Then Jehoiada and his sons brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹²When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she went out to them in the house of the LORD.

¹³And she looked and saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, while the singers with musical instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason, treason!”

¹⁴And Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of hundreds in charge of the army, saying, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put to the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be put to death in the house of the LORD.”

¹⁵So they seized Athaliah as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds, and there they put her to death.

¹⁶Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people.

¹⁷So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

¹⁸Moreover, Jehoiada put the oversight of the house of the LORD into the hands of the Levitical priests, whom David had appointed over the house of the LORD, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and song, as ordained by David.

¹⁹He stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, so that no one who was in any way unclean could enter.

²⁰And he took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD and entered the royal palace through the Upper Gate. They seated King Joash on the royal throne,

²¹and all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been put to the sword.

2 Chronicles 24

¹Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

²And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

³Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴Some time later, Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD.

⁵So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.” The Levites, however, did not make haste.

⁶So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

⁷For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used the sacred objects of the house of the LORD for the Baals.

⁸At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the house of the LORD.

⁹And a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they were to bring to the LORD the tax imposed by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰All the officers and all the people rejoiced and brought their contributions, and they dropped them in the chest until it was full.

¹¹Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.

¹²Then the king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who supervised the labor on the house of the LORD to hire stonecutters and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, as well as workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD.

¹³So the workmen labored, and in their hands the repair work progressed. They restored the house of God according to its specifications, and they reinforced it.

¹⁴When they were finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the house of the LORD—utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, dishes, and other objects of gold and silver. Throughout the days of Jehoiada, burnt offerings were presented regularly in the house of the LORD.

¹⁵When Jehoiada was old and full of years, he died at the age of 130.

¹⁶And Jehoiada was buried with the kings in the City of David, because he had done what was good in Israel for God and His temple.

¹⁷After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.

¹⁸They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

¹⁹Nevertheless, the LORD sent prophets to bring the people back to Him and to testify against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’”

²¹But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.

²²Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”

²³In the spring, the army of Aram went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people, and they sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus.

²⁴Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash.

²⁵And when the Arameans had withdrawn, they left Joash severely wounded. His own servants conspired against him for shedding the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶Those who conspired against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

²⁷The accounts of the sons of Joash and the many pronouncements about him, and of the restoration of the house of God, are indeed written in the Treatise of the Book of the Kings. And his son Amaziah reigned in his place.