Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel 1 UST After Joash had been ruling Judah for almost 23 years, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became the king of Israel. He ruled in the city of Samaria for 17 years. BSB BSB: In the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years.
2 UST Jehoahaz did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. Jeroboam son of Nebat had sinned{ by making calf idols}, and he made the people of Israel sin{ by worshiping those idols}. Jehoahaz sinned in that same way, and he did not repent. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
3 UST Yahweh became very angry with the Israelite people. So he allowed the armies of King Hazael of Aram and his son Ben Hadad to defeat the Israelites many times. BSB BSB: So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.
4 UST The Arameans were treating the Israelites very badly. So Jehoahaz prayed to Yahweh for help. Yahweh saw how badly the Arameans were treating the Israelites, so he did give Jehoahaz the help he asked for. BSB BSB: Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel.
5 UST Yahweh sent a leader to Israel who rescued them from the control of the Aramean king. After that, the Israelites lived peacefully as they had done previously. BSB BSB: So the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before.
6 UST But even after that, the Israelites continued to commit the same kind of sins that Jeroboam and his descendants committed. Jeroboam had led the people of Israel to sin{ by worshiping idols}, and they continued to sin in that way. Also, the pole that people used in the worship of the goddess Asherah remained in Samaria. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Samaria.
7 UST The Aramean army killed so many of Jehoahaz’ s soldiers that he had only 50 men left who rode on horses. He had only 10 chariots and 10, 000 other soldiers left. The Arameans were so powerful compared to the Israelites that it was as if they could knock them down and walk over them. BSB BSB: Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
8 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Jehoahaz did, including the battles that he fought. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
9 UST Jehoahaz died, and the Israelites buried him in Samaria. Then his son Joash became the next king. BSB BSB: And Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And his son Jehoash reigned in his place.
Jehoash Reigns in Israel 10 UST Jehoash son of Jehoahaz started to rule in Israel after King Joash had been ruling in Judah for 37 years. Jehoash ruled in Samaria for 16 years. BSB BSB: In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Joash over Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.
11 UST He did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. Jeroboam son of Nebat had sinned{ by making calf idols}, and he made the people of Israel sin{ by worshiping those idols}. Jehoash sinned in that same way, and he did not repent. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them.
12 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Joash did, including the victory that his army won against the army of King Amaziah of Judah. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with all his accomplishments and his might, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
13 UST When Joash died, the Israelites buried him in Samaria. That was where they had buried other kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became the next king. BSB BSB: And Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
Elisha’s Final Prophecy 14 UST Then Elisha became very ill. Just before he died, King Joash went to Elisha and cried because he was so sad that he was going to die. He cried out,“Sir, you protected Israel so well{, but now you are going to die}!” BSB BSB: When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
15 UST Elisha told him,“Bring me a bow and some arrows.” So the king did that. BSB BSB: Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows.
16 UST Then Elisha told the king to hold the bow in his left hand{ and the bowstring in his right hand}. So the king did that. Elisha then put his own hands on top of the king’ s hands. BSB BSB: Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So the king put his hand on the bow, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
17 UST Then Elisha told him,“Have someone open that window through which we can look to the east.” So a servant opened it. Then Elisha said,“Shoot an arrow{ toward the east}!” So the king did that. Then Elisha told him,“That arrow represents how Yahweh will enable you to defeat the Aramean army. Your army will completely defeat them at the city of Aphek.” BSB BSB: “Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.”
18 UST Then Elisha told him,“Pick up the other arrows.” So he picked up the arrows. Then Elisha told the king,“Hit the ground with them!” So he hit the ground with them. But he only did that three times. BSB BSB: Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them, and Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped.
19 UST This made Elisha angry with him. He exclaimed,“You should have struck the ground five or six times! If you had done that, your army would have completely destroyed the Aramean army{ in a series of battles}. Instead, your army is only going to win three battles against them.” BSB BSB: But the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to it. But now you will strike down Aram only three times.”
20 UST Then Elisha died, and the Israelites buried him. At that time groups of raiders from Moab were coming into Israel each year during the spring. BSB BSB: And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.
21 UST Around that time, while some Israelites were carrying a man’ s body to where they wanted to bury him, they saw a group of those raiders. They{ were afraid, so they} quickly threw that man’ s body into the same tomb where Elisha’ s body was{ and ran away}. But as soon as the man’ s body touched Elisha’ s body, the dead man became alive again and stood up! BSB BSB: Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.
22 UST King Hazael of Aram had treated the Israelite people badly throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. BSB BSB: And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.
23 UST But Yahweh felt sorry for the Israelite people, so he treated them better than they deserved. He helped them because of the solemn agreement he had made with{ their ancestors} Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He wanted them to continue being a nation. So he still did not allow enemies to take the Israelites away from their land. BSB BSB: But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.
24 UST When Hazael died, his son Ben Hadad became the next king of Aram. BSB BSB: When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his place.
25 UST Ben Hadad son of Hazael had fought and defeated Jehoash’ s father Jehoahaz. He had captured several cities. But Joash defeated Ben Hadad three times. In that way, he recaptured those cities and made them part of Israel again. BSB BSB: Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Israel.
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