King Jehoahaz of Israel

1After Joash had been ruling Judah for almost 23 years, Jehu’s son Jehoahaz became the king of Israel. He ruled in Samaria city for 17 years.

2He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil and committed the same kind of sins that Jeroboam had committed, sins which led the people of Israel to sin. He did not stop committing those sins.

3So Yahweh became very angry with the Israeli people, and he allowed the army of King Hazael of Syria and his son Ben-Hadad to defeat the Israelis many times.

4Then Jehoahaz prayed to Yahweh for help, and Yahweh heeded him, because he saw that the army of the king of Syria was oppressing the Israelis.

5Yahweh sent a leader to Israel, who enabled them to be freed from being controlled by Syria. After that, the Israeli people lived peacefully as they had done previously.

6But they still continued to commit the same kind of sins that Jeroboam and his family had committed and which led the Israelis to also sin. And the statue of the goddess Asherah remained in Samaria.

7Jehoahaz had only 50 men who rode on horses and ten chariots and 10,000 other soldiers, because the army of Syria had killed all the rest, trampling them like people walk on dirt.

8If you want to read about [RHQ] everything else that Jehoahaz did, you can read about it in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

9Jehoahaz died [EUP] and was buried in Samaria. Then his son Jehoash became the king.

King Jehoash ruled Israel

10Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, started to rule in Israel after King Joash had been ruling in Judah for 23 years. Jehoash ruled in Samaria for 17 years.

11He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil. He refused to turn away from worshiping idols, which was the sin that many years earlier King Jeroboam had told the Israeli people to commit.

12The other things that happened while Jehoash was king and all the things that he did are written in the book called ‘The Account of What the Kings of Israel Did’. In that account they wrote about Jehoash’s army’s victories, and their war with the army of King Amaziah of Judah.

13When Jehoash died, he was buried in Samaria where the other kings of Israel were buried. Then his son Jeroboam became king.

Elisha died

14Elisha became very ill. Just before he died, King Jehoash went to Elisha and cried in front of him. Saying the same words that Elisha had said when Elijah was taken to heaven, he said, “My father/master! My father/master! The chariots of us Israeli people and their drivers are taking my master away!”

15Elisha said to him, “Bring to me a bow and some arrows!” So the king did that.

16Then Elisha told the king to put his hands on the bow and prepare to shoot some arrows. And then Elisha put his own hands on the king’s hands.

17Then Elisha told him, “Have someone open that window toward the east.” So they opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” So the king did. Then Elisha said, “That is the arrow that indicates that your army will defeat the Syrian army. Your army will completely defeat their army at Aphek town.”

18Then Elisha said, “Pick up the other arrows and strike the ground with them!” So the king picked up the arrows and struck the ground three times.

19But Elisha was angry with him. He exclaimed, “You should have struck the ground five or six times! If you had done that, your army would have defeated the Syrian army until they were completely wiped out! But now, because you struck the ground only three times, your army will defeat them only three times!”

20Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of raiders from Moab came to Israel each year during ◄spring/the time when the cold season was ending►.

21One year, when some Israeli people were burying a man’s body, they saw a group of those raiders. They were afraid, so quickly they threw that man’s body into the tomb where Elisha had been buried, and they ran away. But as soon as the man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man became alive again and jumped up!

War between Israel and Syria

22King Hazael of Syria sent soldiers to oppress the Israeli people all during the years that Jehoahaz ruled Judah.

23But Yahweh was very kind [DOU] to the Israeli people. He helped them because of the agreement that he had made with their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did not get rid of the Israelis, and he still has not rejected them.

24When Hazael the king of Syria died, his son Ben-Hadad became the king.

25The army of King Jehoash of Israel defeated the army of King Ben-Hadad three times, and recaptured the cities that Ben-Hadad’s army had captured during the time that Jehoash’s father Jehoahaz was ruling Israel.