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1 Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, became king of Israel in the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, son of Ahaziah, king of Judah. He reigned in Samaria for seventeen years. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat, had made Israel commit; he did not end them. 3 So the Lord was angry with Israel, and he repeatedly allowed them to be defeated by Hazael, king of Aram, and his son Ben-hadad.
4 Jehoahaz asked the Lord for help, and the Lord responded to his request because he saw how badly the king of Aram was treating Israel. 5 The Lord gave Israel someone who would save them so they no longer were under Aramean rule. Then the Israelites were able to go back to living in safety as before.
6 Even so they did not end the sins that the house of Jeroboam had made Israel commit—they continued to follow them. The Asherah idol still stood in Samaria.
7 All that was left of Jehoahaz's army were fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand soldiers, for the king of Aram had destroyed the rest, turning them into dust like that when grain is threshed.
8 The rest of what happened in Jehoahaz's reign, all he did, and his great achievements are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 9 Jehoahaz died and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash*“Jehoash”: here spelled “Joash,” a variant spelling, but in this translation kept as Jehoash to differentiate from Joash, king of Judah. succeeded him as king.
10 Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, became king of Israel in Samaria in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of King Joash of Judah, and he reigned for sixteen years. 11 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight and did not end all the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had made Israel commit—he continued to follow them.
12 The rest of what happened in Jehoash's reign, all he did, and his great achievements such as his war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 13 Jehoash died, and Jeroboam sat on his throne.†Some believe this change in the formula describing royal succession suggests that Jeroboam was already reigning as co-regent with his father. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14 Elisha had become ill with a disease that would eventually kill him. Jehoash, king of Israel, went to visit him, and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and the horsemen of Israel!”
15 Elisha told him, “Find a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash found a bow and some arrows.
16 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Pick up the bow.” So the king picked up the bow. Elisha placed his hands on the king's hands.
17 “Open the east window,” he told him. So the king opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he fired an arrow.
Then Elisha explained, “This is the Lord's victory arrow representing the arrow of victory over the Arameans. You will attack the Arameans in Aphek and finish them off.”
18 Then Elisha said, “Pick up the arrows!” So he picked them up.
Elisha told the king of Israel, “Hit the ground with them!” He hit the ground three times, and then stopped.
19 The man of God got angry with him, telling him, “You should have hit the ground five or six times. Then you would have attacked the Arameans until you had completely destroyed them. But now you will only attack the Arameans three times.”
20 Elisha died and was buried.
Raiders from the country of Moab used to invade Israel every spring. 21 One time some Israelites were burying a man when suddenly they saw some raiders coming, so they quickly threw the man into Elisha's tomb. As soon as he touched Elisha's bones, the man came back to life and stood up.
22 Hazael, king of Aram, caused problems for Israel through all Jehoahaz's reign. 23 But the Lord graciously helped them and was kind to them. He looked after them because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even to this day he's been unwilling to destroy them or to throw them out of his presence.
24 When Hazael, king of Aram, died, his son Ben-hadad succeeded him as king. 25 Then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, recovered from Ben-hadad son of Hazael, the towns that Hazael had captured from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and so recaptured the Israelite towns.

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*13:9 “Jehoash”: here spelled “Joash,” a variant spelling, but in this translation kept as Jehoash to differentiate from Joash, king of Judah.

†13:13 Some believe this change in the formula describing royal succession suggests that Jeroboam was already reigning as co-regent with his father.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher