2 Raja-raja 13:1-13

Jehoahaz’s Reign over Israel

13:1 In the twenty-third year of the reign of Judah’s King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehu’s son Jehoahaz became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria ¹  for seventeen years. 13:2 He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord. He continued in ³  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins. ⁴  13:3 The Lord was furious with ⁵  Israel and handed them over to ⁶  King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael’s son Ben Hadad for many years. ⁷ 

13:4 Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy ⁸  and the Lord responded favorably, ⁹  for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria. ¹⁰  13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer ¹¹  for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. ¹²  The Israelites once more lived in security. ¹³  13:6 But they did not repudiate ¹⁴  the sinful ways of the family ¹⁵  of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. ¹⁶  There was even an Asherah pole ¹⁷  standing in Samaria. 13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left ¹⁸  except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops ¹⁹  and trampled on them like dust. ²⁰ 

13:8 The rest of the events of Jehoahaz’s reign, including all his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ²¹  13:9 Jehoahaz passed away ²²  and was buried ²³  in Samaria. His son Joash replaced him as king.

Jehoash’s Reign over Israel

13:10 In the thirty-seventh year of King Joash’s reign over Judah, Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria ²⁴  for sixteen years. 13:11 He did evil in the sight of ²⁵  the Lord. He did not repudiate ²⁶  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin; he continued in those sins. ²⁷  13:12 The rest of the events of Joash’s ²⁸  reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ²⁹  13:13 Joash passed away ³⁰  and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. ³¹  Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

[13:1]  ¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[13:2]  ² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “walked after.”

[13:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he did not turn aside from it.”

[13:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against.”

[13:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “he gave them into the hand of.”

[13:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the days.”

[13:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the Lord heard.”

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for he saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Syria oppressed them.”

[13:5]  ¹¹ sn The identity of this unnamed “deliverer” is debated. For options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 143.

[13:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and they went from under the hand of Syria.”

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.”

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they did not turn away from.”

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[13:6]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “in it he walked.” The singular verb (הָלַךְ, halakh) is probably due to an error of haplography and should be emended to the plural (הָלְכּוּ, halÿku). Note that a vav immediately follows (on the form וְגַם, vÿgam).

[13:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “an image of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “the Asherah”; NCV “the Asherah idol.”

[13:6]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[13:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Indeed he did not leave to Jehoahaz people.” The identity of the subject is uncertain, but the king of Syria, mentioned later in the verse, is a likely candidate.

[13:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “them,” i.e., the remainder of this troops.

[13:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and made them like dust for trampling.”

[13:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jehoahaz, and all which he did and his strength, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

[13:9]  ²² tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[13:9]  ²³ tn Heb “and they buried him.”

[13:10]  ²⁴ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[13:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[13:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “turn away from all.”

[13:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in it he walked.”

[13:12]  ²⁸ sn Jehoash and Joash are alternate forms of the same name.

[13:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Joash, and all which he did and his strength, [and] how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

[13:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[13:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “sat on his throne.”