2 Chronicles 21

Jehoshaphat died and joined his ancestors in death. He was buried with them in the City of David. His son Jehoram became king in his place.

1Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

NoteThe City of David is the oldest part of Jerusalem, the fortified ridge David captured and made his capital; the kings of the line of David were buried there. "Slept with his fathers" is the standard Hebrew phrase for a peaceful death, used of kings whether or not they were actually laid in the same tomb.

2Jehoram had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, another Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All of them were sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.

2And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

NoteCalling Jehoshaphat "king of Israel" is unexpected: after the kingdom split in two, "Israel" normally means the ten northern tribes and "Judah" the southern kingdom ruled from Jerusalem by David's line, which is the kingdom Jehoshaphat ruled. Chronicles sometimes uses "Israel" in the older, wider sense of the whole covenant people, whose true representative it takes the southern kings to be. Some ancient copies read "Judah" here. Two of the brothers have the same name, Azariah; this is not a copying slip that anyone can now correct, and the rendering marks it as "another Azariah."

3Their father had given them many gifts of silver, gold, and other valuable things, along with walled cities in Judah. But he gave the kingdom itself to Jehoram, because he was the oldest son.

3And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn.

NoteWalled cities were fortified towns; assigning them to royal sons gave each of them revenue, a garrison and a standing in the kingdom. The kingdom itself went to the oldest son: by Israelite custom the firstborn inherited the position of head of the family and a double portion of the estate, and in a royal family that meant the throne.

4When Jehoram had taken firm control of his father's kingdom, he made his position strong by killing all his brothers with the sword. He killed some of the leaders of Israel as well.

4Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.

Note"Princes" here translates a Hebrew word for high officials, army commanders and heads of leading families, not sons of the king. As in verse 2, "Israel" is used of the southern kingdom.

5Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years.

5Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6He lived the way the kings of Israel lived, just as Ahab's family had done, because he had married a daughter of Ahab. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

6And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.

NoteAhab was king of the northern kingdom of Israel, and his household promoted the worship of the Canaanite god Baal alongside or instead of the LORD. Jehoram's wife was Athaliah (named in chapter 22); royal marriages of this kind sealed political alliances between the two kingdoms.

7Even so, the LORD was not willing to destroy the family of David. He would not, because of the covenant he had made with David, and because he had promised to keep a lamp burning for David and for his sons forever.

7Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.

NoteA covenant is a binding, formal agreement, here God's sworn commitment to David that his descendants would rule. "A lamp" is a Hebrew image for a surviving heir: as long as a descendant of David held the throne, the family lamp was still burning and the line had not gone dark.

8While Jehoram was king, the Edomites rebelled against the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own.

8In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king.

NoteEdom was the neighboring territory south-east of Judah, beyond the Dead Sea. It had been subject to Judah since David's conquests and was governed by a deputy rather than its own king; appointing a king of their own was the formal declaration of independence.

9So Jehoram went out with his officers and all his chariots. He got up at night and attacked the Edomites, who had surrounded him, and the chariot commanders.

9Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the chariots.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is compressed and its sense is disputed. It can be read as Jehoram breaking out by night from an Edomite encirclement, or as a night attack that he launched. Verse 10 makes clear that whatever happened, he did not recover control of Edom.

10So Edom has stayed in rebellion against the rule of Judah to this day. At the same time the town of Libnah also rebelled against Jehoram's rule, because he had abandoned the LORD, the God of his ancestors.

10So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.

NoteLibnah was a walled town in the low hill country between Judah and Philistine territory on the coast, on Judah's western frontier, so its defection opened that border. "To this day" reflects the standpoint of the writer or of the older record he is using, not of the reader.

11He also built worship sites on the hills of Judah. He led the people of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the LORD, and he forced the people of Judah to go along with it.

11Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.

NoteWorship sites on hills, traditionally "high places", were open-air shrines with an altar and standing stones, often on a hilltop outside the towns. They were used for worship of the LORD as well as of other gods, and the writers of Kings and Chronicles judge every king by whether he removed them, since worship was supposed to be centered on the temple in Jerusalem. "Be unfaithful" translates a Hebrew idiom meaning literally to prostitute oneself. It is the standard prophetic image for worshiping other gods: the bond between God and the people is pictured as a marriage, so turning to other gods is adultery. Some shrines also involved sexual rites, so the language can carry both senses at once.

12Then a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet. It said: "This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: You have not lived the way your father Jehoshaphat lived, or the way Asa king of Judah lived.

12And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

NoteA letter from Elijah is surprising, because Elijah prophesied in the northern kingdom in Ahab's reign and 2 Kings 2 describes him being taken up to heaven before this point. The text is not explained here, and ancient readers noticed the difficulty too; possible readings are that the letter was written earlier and delivered later, or that Chronicles is drawing on a separate tradition. "Father" in Hebrew covers any ancestor: David is Jehoram's forefather, Jehoshaphat his actual father, and Asa his great-grandfather.

13Instead you have lived the way the kings of Israel live. You have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to God, the same way Ahab's family was unfaithful. You have also killed your own brothers, your father's family, men who were better than you.

13But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:

14So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your children, your wives, and everything you own with a heavy blow.

14Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:

NoteThe Hebrew word is a blow or stroke, not necessarily an epidemic; the older translation "plague" is misleading. What follows in verse 17 is an invasion.

15And you yourself will become very sick with a disease in your bowels. It will grow worse day after day, until your bowels come out because of the sickness."

15And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

Note"Bowels" means the intestines and the insides generally. What the disease was cannot now be identified from the description.

16Then the LORD stirred up the anger of the Philistines against Jehoram, and also of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.

16Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:

Note"Stirred up the spirit" is an idiom for rousing someone to act, the way one might say a person's blood was up. The Philistines occupied the coastal plain west of Judah, organized around five cities. The Cushites (older translations say "Ethiopians") were the people of Cush, the region on the Nile south of Egypt, not modern Ethiopia; the Arab groups meant here lived along the trade routes on that side of Judah.

17They marched up against Judah, broke into it, and carried away everything of value they found in the king's palace. They took his sons and his wives too. Not one son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest.

17And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

NoteJehoahaz is the same person called Ahaziah in the next chapter; the two names are built from the same elements in reverse order, and both were in use for him.

18After all this, the LORD struck Jehoram with a disease of the bowels that could not be cured.

18And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

19Time went by, and at the end of two years his bowels came out because of the disease. He died in great pain. His people did not build a funeral fire in his honor, as they had done for his ancestors.

19And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

NoteThe funeral fire was not cremation, which Israelites did not practice. Large quantities of spices and aromatic wood were burned in honor of a dead king; withholding it was a deliberate public insult to his memory.

20He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

20Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

Note"No one was sorry when he died" renders a phrase meaning he departed unwanted, without anyone desiring him, an epitaph, not a description of the funeral. Burying him inside the City of David but outside the royal tombs was a further mark of disgrace: he was in the right city but excluded from the kings' burial place.