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Ahaziah, King of Judah

¹ The people of Jerusalem chose Ahaziah to be the new king in Jehoram's place. Ahaziah was Jehoram's youngest son. The people who came with the Arabs to attack Jehoram's camp killed all of Jehoram's older sons. So Ahaziah began to rule in Judah. ² He was 22 years old when he began to rule.^[a] He ruled one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah. Her father's name was Omri. ³ Ahaziah also lived the way Ahab's family lived because his mother encouraged him to do wrong things. ⁴ Ahaziah did evil in the Lord's sight. That is what Ahab's family did. Ahab's family gave advice to Ahaziah after Ahaziah's father died. They gave Ahaziah bad advice that led to his death.^5-6 Ahaziah followed the advice of Ahab's family and joined King Joram to fight against King Hazael from Aram. They fought near the town of Ramoth in Gilead. Joram, who was the son of King Ahab of Israel, was wounded in the battle. He went back to the town of Jezreel to heal from the wounds he suffered at Ramoth. King Ahaziah^[b] went there later to visit him.

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. The Lord chose Jehu to destroy Ahab's family. ⁸ Jehu was punishing Ahab's family. He found the leaders of Judah and Ahaziah's relatives who served Ahaziah. He killed the leaders of Judah and Ahaziah's relatives. ⁹ Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah. Jehu's men caught him when he tried to hide in the town of Samaria. They brought him to Jehu. They killed Ahaziah and buried him. They said, "Ahaziah is the descendant of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat followed the Lord with all his heart." Ahaziah's family had no power to hold the kingdom of Judah together.

Queen Athaliah

¹⁰ Athaliah was Ahaziah's mother. When she saw that her son was dead, she killed all the king's children in Judah. ¹¹ But Jehosheba took Ahaziah's son Joash and hid him. Jehosheba put Joash and his nurse in the inside bedroom. Jehosheba was King Jehoram's daughter. She was also Jehoiada's wife. Jehoiada was a priest, and Jehosheba was Ahaziah's sister. Athaliah did not kill Joash, because Jehosheba hid him. ¹² Joash was hidden with the priests in God's Temple for six years. During that time Athaliah ruled over the land as queen.