2 Chronicles 22 (NET)

Ahaziah’s Reign

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. 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. 3 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty,5 for his mother gave him evil advice.6 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. 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. 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

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 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. 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

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 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. 12 He remained in hiding in God’s temple27 for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

1map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4. 2tn Heb “for all the older [ones] the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed.” 3tc Heb “forty-two,” but the parallel passage in 2 Kgs 8:26 reads “twenty-two” along with some mss of the LXX and the Syriac. 4tn The Hebrew term בַּת (bat, “daughter”) can refer, as here, to a granddaughter. See HALOT 165-66 s.v. I בַּת 1. 5tn Heb “and also he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.” 6tn Heb “for his mother was his adviser to do evil.” 7tn Heb “in the eyes of.” 8tn That is, the members of Ahab’s royal house. 9sn Jehoram and Joram are alternate spellings of the Israelite king’s name (also in vv. 6-7). The shorter form is used in these verse to avoid confusion with King Jehoram of Judah, father of Azariah. 10tn Heb “Aram” (also in v. 6). 11tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joram) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 12tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.” 13tc Most Hebrew mss read “Azariah.” A few Hebrew mss, the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac read “Ahaziah” (cf. 2 Kgs 8:29). 14tn Heb “because he was sick,” presumably referring to the wounds he received in the battle with the Syrians. 15tn Heb “From God was the downfall of Ahaziah by going to Joram.” 16tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 17tn Heb “anointed.” 18tn Heb “to cut off the house of Ahab.” 19map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. 20tn Heb “they said.” 21tn Heb “and there was no one belonging to the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for kingship.” 22tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum, “arise”) is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125. 23tn Heb “house of Judah.” 24sn Jehoshabeath is a variant spelling of the name Jehosheba (2 Kgs 11:2). 25tn Heb “the king”; the referent (King Jehoram, see later in this verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 26tn Heb “stole.” 27tn Heb “and he was with them in the house of God hiding.”