2 *Chronicles 21

₁King Jehoshaphat died and they buried him with his forefathers in the City of David. Jehoram, his son, became king after him.

₂The names of Jehoram's brothers were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. They were all sons of Jehoshaphat, king_of_Judah. ₃Jehoshaphat gave his sons a lot of gifts. He gave them silver, gold, and precious things, and he also gave them towns and cities in Judah that had strong walls, but he made Jehoram king because Jehoram was his oldest son. ₄When Jehoram became king and he was sure that the people had accepted him as king, he killed all his brothers and some of the officials of Judah. ₅Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king and he was king in Jerusalem for 8 years. ₆He did bad things and he lived like the kings_of_Israel, like the family of King Ahab, because he married a daughter of Ahab. Jehoram did what the Lord said was wrong. ₇But the Lord did not want to destroy the royal family of David because He had made a covenant with David and He had promised that one of David's descendants would always be king.

₈In the time when Jehoram was king, the people of the land of Edom rebelled_against the king_of_Judah and the people of Edom chose another king for themselves. ₉Jehoram went to the land of Edom with all his officers and war-chariots. The soldiers of Edom came to attack them and they came very near to him and surrounded Jehoram and his men. But that night Jehoram defeated the Edomite soldiers. ₁₀From that day the Edomites rebelled_against Judah and they did not stop rebelling. Then the people of the town of Libnah also started to rebel_against King Jehoram. This happened because Jehoram did not serve the Lord, the God of his forefathers. ₁₁Jehoram also built places_of_sacrifice on the mountains of Judah. He made the people of Jerusalem unfaithful and he led the people of Judah away from the Lord.

₁₂The prophet Elijah wrote a letter to Jehoram. Elijah wrote: ‘The Lord God of your father David says: “You do not live as your father Jehoshaphat or as Asa, king_of_Judah, lived. ₁₃You live like the kings_of_Israel and you have made the people of Judah unfaithful. Your brothers were better men than you are, but you killed all of them. ₁₄That is why the Lord will make your people suffer a lot, as well as your children and your wives and everything you have. ₁₅You will become very sick. You will have a disease in your stomach. Your inner parts will fall out and you will die.” ’

₁₆The Lord then made the Philistines and the Arabians, who lived near the people of Cush, decide to go to war_against King Jehoram. ₁₇They attacked the king_of_Judah and they defeated the city. Then they took everything in the palace of the king as well as his sons and his wives, but they did not catch his youngest son, Ahaziah. ₁₈After all of this happened, the Lord made Jehoram sick. He had a disease in his stomach and there was no medicine that helped for that disease. ₁₉He became very sick. He had a lot of pain and he suffered every day. Then after 2 years his inside parts fell out and he died. Before that time, the people had always burnt a fire to honour the king, but Jehoram's people did not burn a fire for him. ₂₀Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king and he was king in Jerusalem for 8 years. No one felt sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs where they buried the other kings.