II Chronicles 21 The Death of Jehoshaphat and the Wickedness of Joram

 II Chronicles 21

The Death of Jehoshaphat and the Wickedness of Joram

1 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David; and Joram his son reigned in his place.

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

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

4 And Joram came up to the kingdom of his father, and strengthened himself, and slew all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.

5 Joram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he had Ahab's daughter as his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

7 But the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and because he had also said that he would give him and his sons a lamp for ever.

8 In his days the Edomites rebelled against the rule of Judah, and they made a king for themselves.

9 So Joram went on ahead with his leaders and all the chariots with him, and rose up by night and struck down the Edomites who had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots.

10 But the Edomites rebelled against the rule of Judah to this day. At that time Libnah rebelled from under them, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. 

11 He also made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to become corrupt, and he also caused Judah to do so.

12 Then a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

13 But have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to become corrupt, according to the corruption of the house of Ahab, and have also killed your brothers, your father's house, who were better than you,

14 Behold, the Lord will strike your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions with a great plague.

15 You will also have a great illness through an illness in your bowels, until your bowels come out from you from the illness day by day.

16 So the Lord stirred up against Joram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who are on the side of the Ethiopians.

17 They came up against Judah and invaded it, and took all the goods that were found in the king's house, as well as his sons and his wives, so that they left him no son except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

18 And after all this the Lord struck him in his bowels with an incurable illness. 

19 And it came to pass after many days, and at the end of two years, that his bowels fell out through his sickness, and he died of great diseases: and his people did not burn spices for him, as they had burned for his fathers. 

20 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years: and he departed, and was not left with any remembrance; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.