Chronicles II 21

1 And Josaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Joran his son reigned in his stead.

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].

2 And he had brothers, the six sons of Josaphat, Azarias, and Jeiel, and Zacharias, and Azarias, and Michael, and Zaphatias: all these [were] the sons of Josaphat king of Juda.

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

3 And their father gave them many gifts, silver, and gold, and arms, together with fortified cities in Juda: but he gave the kingdom to Joram, for he [was] the first-born.

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.

4 And Joram entered upon his kingdom, and strengthened himself, and slew all his brothers with the sword, and [some] of the princes of Israel.

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.

5 When he was thirty and two years old, Joram succeeded to his kingdom, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

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

6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Achaab; for a daughter of Achaab was his wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord:

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.

7 nevertheless the Lord would not utterly destroy the house of David, because of the covenant which he made with David, and as he said to him that he would give a light to him and his sons for ever.

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.

8 In those days Edom revolted from Juda, and they made a king over themselves.

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

9 And Joram went with the princes, and all the cavalry with him: and it came to pass that he arose by night, and smote Edom that compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots, and the people fled to their tents.

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.

10 And Edom revolted from Juda until this day. Then Lomna at that time revolted from [under] his hand, because he forsook the Lord God of his fathers.

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].

11 For he built high places in the cities of Juda, and caused the dwellers in Jerusalem to go a-whoring, and led Juda astray.

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.

12 And there came to him [a message] in writing from Eliu the prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of thy father David, Because thou hast not walked in the way of thy father Josaphat, nor in the ways of Asa king of Juda,

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.

13 but hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and hast caused Juda and the dwellers in Jerusalem to go a-whoring, as the house of Achaab caused [Israel] to go a-whoring, and thou hast slain thy brethren, the sons of thy father, who were better than thyself;

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.

14 behold, the Lord shall smite thee with a great plague among thy people, and thy sons, and thy wives, and all thy store:

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.

15 and thou [shalt be afflicted] with a grievous disease, with a disease of the bowels, until thy bowels shall fall out day by day with the sickness.

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

16 So the Lord stirred up the Philistines against Joram, and the Arabians, and those who bordered on the Aethiopians:

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.

17 and they went up against Juda, and prevailed against them, and took away all the store which they found in the house of the king, and his sons, and his daughters; and there was no son left to him but Ochozias the youngest of his sons.

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.

18 And after all these things the Lord smote him in the bowels with an incurable disease.

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

19 And it continued from day to day: and when the time of the days came [to] two years, his bowels fell out with the disease, and he died by a grievous distemper: and his people performed no funeral, like the funeral of his fathers.

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.

20 He was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed without honour, and was buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

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.