2 Chronicles 22

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.

²⁴And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.

²⁵In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

¹All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

²⁵But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

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.

¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

²⁸And Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab reigned in his place.

²⁶Ahaziah 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 king of Israel.

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.

¹²What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

¹³His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

³⁷Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

⁹The king was grieved, but because of his oaths and his guests, he ordered that her wish be granted

²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

⁵Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

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.

⁵The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

²⁷If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

³¹When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him.

³Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people are your people; we will join you in the war.”

²Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.

²⁸Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.

²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans 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.

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

²²But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

¹⁵but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

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.

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.

²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans 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.

¹³Jehu met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” “We are relatives of Ahaziah,” they answered, “and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and of the queen mother.”

¹⁴Then Jehu ordered, “Take them alive.” So his men took them alive, then slaughtered them at the well of Beth-eked—forty-two men. He spared none of them.

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from God, in order that the Lord might fulfill the word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

²¹“Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

¹⁶You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

¹Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

²When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room.

⁹Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.

⁴(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

¹⁰Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the Lord has done what He promised through His servant Elijah.”

¹¹So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.

¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. For this is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will receive a proper burial, because only in him has the Lord, the God of Israel, found any good in the house of Jeroboam.

³Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,

⁴but he sought the God of his father and walked by His commandments rather than the practices of Israel.

²¹and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God gave you,

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.

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.

²⁷When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.

²⁸Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

¹When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

²But Jehosheba daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.

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.

¹⁰The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

⁸This is what the Lord says: “As the new wine is found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Do not destroy it, for it contains a blessing,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.

¹⁰Even the wrath of man shall praise You; with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.

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.

⁴⁵Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,

⁴⁶and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the only Levites who may approach the Lord to minister before Him.”

¹Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

¹⁴For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.

¹⁸Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

⁵For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.

⁸The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.

¹²Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Lord, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.