2 Chronicles 21

1 Then Jehoshaphat died, and was buried where his ancestors were buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then his son Jehoram became the king [of Judah].

And Jehoshaphat lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Jehoram reigns in his stead.

2 His [younger] brothers were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah.

And he has brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these [are] sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel,

3 Before Jehoshaphat died, he gave them gifts of silver and gold and other valuable things. He also appointed them to rule various cities in Judah that had walls around them. But he appointed Jehoram to be the king of Judah, because Jehoram was his oldest son.

and their father gives to them many gifts of silver and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah, and he has given the kingdom to Jehoram, for he [is] the firstborn.

4 After Jehoram was completely in control of his father’s kingdom, he had all of his [younger] brothers executed, along with some of the leaders of the nation.

And Jehoram rises up over the kingdom of his father, and strengthens himself, and slays all his brothers with the sword, and also of the heads of Israel.

5 Jehoram was 32 years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years.

Jehoram [is] a son of thirty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned eight years in Jerusalem,

6 But he did many of the [evil] things that the kings of Israel had done. He did many things that Yahweh considers to be evil, things that the family of Ahab had done, because he married one of Ahab’s daughters.

and he walks in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, for a daughter of Ahab has been to him for a wife, and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH,

7 However, because of the agreement that Yahweh had made with King David, Yahweh did not want to get rid of the descendants of David. He had promised that David’s descendants would always be the ones who ruled Judah.

and YHWH has not been willing to destroy the house of David, for the sake of the covenant that He made with David, and as He had said to give a lamp to him and to his sons [for] all the days.

8 While Jehoram was ruling, the people of [the] Edom [region] rebelled against [the king of] Judah and appointed their own king.

In his days Edom has revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they cause a king to reign over them;

9 So Jehoram and his officers and his men in chariots went to Edom. There, the army of Edom surrounded them. Jehoram escaped during the night.

and Jehoram passes over with his heads, and all the chariots with him, and it comes to pass, he has risen by night and strikes the Edomites who are coming around against him, and the princes of the chariots,

10 But the king of Judah was never able to regain control of Edom, and Edom is still not controlled by Judah. [The people in] Libnah [city between Judah and Philistia] also rebelled against Judah. Those things happened because Jehoram turned away from [obeying] Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors [belonged to].

and Edom revolts from under the hand of Judah to this day; then Libnah revolts at that time from under his hand, because he has forsaken YHWH, God of his fathers;

11 On the hilltops in Judah he had also built shrines [to worship idols], and had caused the people of Judah to stray away from Yahweh by worshiping foreign gods.

also, he has made high places on the mountains of Judah, and causes the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit whoredom, and compels Judah.

12 One day, Jehoram received a letter from the prophet Elijah. Elijah had written this in the letter: “This is what Yahweh, the God whom your ancestor [King] David [worshiped], says: 'You have not done things that please me like your father Jehoshaphat did or what King Asa did.

And a writing from Elijah the prophet comes to him, saying, “Thus said YHWH, God of your father David: Because that you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat, and in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

13 Instead, you have continually done the [evil things] that the kings of Israel have done. You have encouraged the people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah to stop worshiping Yahweh, like the descendants of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, who were more righteous men than you are.

and you walk in the way of the kings of Israel, and cause Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit whoredom like the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also your brothers, the house of your father, who are better than yourself, you have slain;

14 So now Yahweh is about to very severely punish the people in your kingdom and even your own children and your wives and everything that you own.

behold, YHWH is striking [with] a great striking among your people, and among your sons, and among your wives, and among all your goods—

15 And you yourself will have an intestinal disease that will continue to become worse, and you will suffer from it until you die.'”

and you, with many sicknesses, with disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out by the sickness, day by day.”

16 Then Yahweh caused some men from the Philistia people-group and some Arabs who lived near the coast [of the Mediterranean Sea], where people from Ethiopia had settled, to become angry with Jehoram.

And YHWH wakes up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians, who [are] beside the Cushim,

17 Their army invaded Judah and took away [from Jerusalem] all the valuable things that they found in the king’s palace, and even his sons and wives. His youngest son, Ahaziah, was the only one of his sons whom they did not take away.

and they come up into Judah, and break into it, and take captive all the substance that is found at the house of the king, and also his sons, and his wives, and there has not been left to him a son except Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.

18 After that happened, Yahweh caused Jehoram to be afflicted with an intestinal disease that no one could cure.

And after all this YHWH has plagued him in his bowels by a disease for which there is no healing,

19 About two years later, while he was in great pain, he died because of that disease. The people of Judah had made bonfires to honor his ancestors when they died, but they did not make a bonfire for Jehoram.

and it comes to pass, from days to days, and at the time of the going out of the end of two years, his bowels have gone out with his sickness, and he dies of severe diseases, and his people have not made for him a burning like the burning of his fathers.

20 Jehoram was 32 years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. No one was sorry when he died. His corpse was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, but he was not buried where the other kings [of Judah] had been buried.

He was a son of thirty-two [years] in his reigning, and he has reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he goes without desire, and they bury him in the City of David, and not in the graves of the kings.