2 *Chronicles 22

₁A lot of men came with the Arabians and they attacked the army of Judah. They killed all the brothers of Ahaziah. Ahaziah was the youngest son of King Jehoram and the people of Jerusalem made him king after his father had died. That is how Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, became king_of_Judah. ₂Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king and he ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of King Omri. ₃Ahaziah was bad and he lived like the family of King Ahab because his mother told him to do things that were wrong. ₄He did what the Lord said was wrong. He lived like the family of Ahab because after his father had died, the family of Ahab became his advisors. He died because ₅he did what the family of Ahab told him to do. Ahaziah went to war with Joram, son of Ahab, king_of_Israel, against King Hazael of Aram. They went to the town of Ramoth in Gilead. The Arameans shot and wounded Joram with an arrow ₆and he came back to the town of Jezreel for his wounds to heal when he was wounded in the war_against King Hazael of Aram. Ahaziah, king_of_Judah, son of Jehoram, went to the town of Jezreel to visit Joram, son of Ahab, when he was sick. ₇But God had decided that Ahaziah must die because he went to Joram. Ahaziah went with Joram to meet Jehu, son of Nimshi. The Lord had chosen Jehu and He anointed him to be king and to kill the family of Ahab. ₈Jehu had started punishing the family of Ahab when he met some of the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers. They were working for Ahaziah and Jehu killed all of them. ₉Jehu went to look for Ahaziah. He was hiding in the city of Samaria but they caught him and took him to Jehu and killed him. They buried him because they said: ‘He is the son of Jehoshaphat and Jehoshaphat served the Lord with all his heart.’

When Ahaziah died, there was no one in his family who could become king. ₁₀When they told Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, that her son was dead, she immediately started killing everyone in the family of the king_of_Judah. ₁₁But princess Jehosheba took Joash, Ahaziah's son, away from the princes who were going to die and no one saw what she did. She hid Joash and the woman who had to look after him in a bedroom. Jehosheba was a daughter of King Jehoram and she was a sister of Ahaziah. She was married to the priest Jehoiada. That is why Joash did not die with the other princes. ₁₂They hid Joash in the temple for 6 years while Athaliah ruled the land_of_Judah.