2 Chronicles 22

¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, because the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older ones; so Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king.

²Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.

³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.

⁴He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after his father's death, to his own destruction.

⁵Also, following their counsel, he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans struck down Joram.

⁶And he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Azariah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, for he was ill.

⁷The downfall of Ahaziah came from God — in that he had come to visit Joram, for when he arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

⁸And it was, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, who were serving Ahaziah, and he killed them.

⁹They searched for Ahaziah and captured him; he was hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu and put him to death, and they buried him, for they said, 'He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.' And the house of Ahaziah had no power to retain the kingdom.

¹⁰And Athaliah, mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, and she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.

¹¹And Jehosheba, daughter of the king, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons who were being killed, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid him, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him.

¹²And he was with them in the house of God, hiding himself six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.