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].

Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David; Jehoram, his son, became king in his place.

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

Jehoram had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were 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.

Their father had given them large gifts of silver, gold, and other precious things, and also fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram.

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.

Now when Jehoram had risen up over his father's kingdom and had firmly established himself as king, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also various other leaders of Israel.

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

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 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.

He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab was doing, for he had Ahab's daughter as his wife, and he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

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.

However, Yahweh did not wish to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David; he had promised that he would always give life to him and his descendants.

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

In Jehoram's days, Edom revolted from the control of Judah, and they set a king over themselves.

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.

Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots. It was night when he rose up and fought against the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders.

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].

So Edom has been in rebellion from the control of Judah to this present day. Libnah also revolted at the same time from his control, because Jehoram had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his ancestors.

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.

In addition, Jehoram had also built high places in the mountains of Judah and he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to live like prostitutes, and he led Judah astray.

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.

A letter from the prophet Elijah came to Jehoram. It said, “This is what Yahweh, the God of David, your ancestor, says: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat, your father, nor 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.

but have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to act like a prostitute, as the house of Ahab did—and because you have also killed your brothers in your father's family, men who were better than yourself—

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.

see, Yahweh will strike with a great plague your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions.

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

You yourself will have much sickness because of a disease in your intestines, until your intestines fall out because of the sickness, day after 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.

Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians who were near the Cushites.

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.

They attacked Judah, invaded it, and carried away all the wealth that was found in the king's house. They also carried away his sons and his wives. No son was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest son.

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

After all this, Yahweh struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease.

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.

It came about in due time, at the end of two years, that his intestines fell out because of his sickness, and that he died of severe disease. His people made no fire in his honor as they had done for his ancestors.

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 had begun to reign when he was thirty-two years old; he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years, and when he departed no one mourned him. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the royal tombs.