22:1 The residents of Jerusalem 1 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. 22:2 Ahaziah was twenty-two 3 years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter 4 of Omri. 22:3 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty, 5 for his mother gave him evil advice. 6 22:4 He did evil in the sight of 7 the Lord like Ahab’s dynasty because, after his father’s death, they 8 gave him advice that led to his destruction. 22:5 He followed their advice and joined Ahab’s son King Joram 9 of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria 10 at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. 22:6 Joram 11 returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians 12 in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah 13 son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded. 14
22:7 God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram. 15 When Ahaziah 16 arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned 17 to wipe out Ahab’s family. 18 22:8 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. 22:9 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
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 tn Heb “for all the older [ones] the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed.”
3 tc Heb “forty-two,” but the parallel passage in 2 Kgs 8:26 reads “twenty-two” along with some
4 tn The Hebrew term בַּת (bat, “daughter”) can refer, as here, to a granddaughter. See HALOT 165-66 s.v. I בַּת 1.
5 tn Heb “and also he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.”
6 tn Heb “for his mother was his adviser to do evil.”
7 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
8 tn That is, the members of Ahab’s royal house.
9 sn 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.
10 tn Heb “Aram” (also in v. 6).
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “which the Syrians inflicted [on] him.”
13 tc Most Hebrew
14 tn Heb “because he was sick,” presumably referring to the wounds he received in the battle with the Syrians.
15 tn Heb “From God was the downfall of Ahaziah by going to Joram.”
16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “anointed.”
18 tn Heb “to cut off the house of Ahab.”
19 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
20 tn Heb “they said.”
21 tn Heb “and there was no one belonging to the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for kingship.”