1
Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them
in the City of David, And Jehoram his son succeeded as king.
2
Jehoram's brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah,
Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat
king of Israel.
3
Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value,
as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram
because he was his firstborn son.
Jehoram King of Judah
4
When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father's kingdom,
he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the princes of Israel.
5
Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
6
He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done,
for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
7
Nevertheless, because of the covenant the LORD had made with David,
the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David.
He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.
8
In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king.
9
So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots.
The Edomites surrounded him and his his chariot commanders,
but he rose up and broke through by night.
10
To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted
at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his
fathers.
11
He had also built high places on the hill of Judah and had caused the people
of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.
12
Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: "This is what
the LORD, the God of your father David, says: 'You have not walked in the
ways of your father Jehoshaphat or Asa king of Judah.
13
But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led
Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the
house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members
of your father's house, men who were better than you.
14
So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives
and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow.
15
You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels,
until the disease causes your bowels to come out.' "
16
The LORD aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines
and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.
17
They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king's
palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,
the youngest.
18
After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels.
19
In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out
because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no fire
in his honor, as they had for his fathers.
20
Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one's regret and was buried
in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
