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The Reign of Ahaziah

¹ And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the band of men who had come with the Arabs to the camp had murdered all the older sons. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, reigned. ² Ahaziah was forty-two^[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter^[b] of Omri. ³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor for doing wickedness. ⁴ And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as the house of Ahab had done, for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father. ⁵ He also walked in their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael king of Aram^[c] at Ramoth-Gilead. And the Arameans wounded Joram. ⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds he had suffered at Ramah, when he made war against Hazael king of Aram.^[d] And Azariah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezreel for he was sick.

⁷ But the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, and intended to come to Joram. And when he came, he went out with Jehoram to Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. ⁸ And it happened that when Jehu was judging the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah who ministered to Ahaziah, and he killed them. ⁹ And he searched for Ahaziah and captured him. And he was hiding in Samaria. And they brought him to Jehu and put him to death. And they buried him, for they said, "He is the descendant^[e] of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with his whole heart." And the house of Ahab had no one to exercise power over the kingdom.

The Reign of Athaliah

¹⁰ Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and murdered all the royal descendants^[f] of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehosheba the daughter of the king took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and kidnapped him away from the sons of the king who were to be put to death. And she put him and his nurse in a private bedroom. So Jehosheba the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from before Athaliah so that she did not put him to death. ¹² And he was hidden with them in the house of God six years, but Athaliah reigned over the land.