2 Chronicles 22:9-12

22:9 He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria. ¹  They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned, ²  “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart.” There was no one in Ahaziah’s family strong enough to rule in his place. ³ 

Athaliah is Eliminated

22:10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line ⁴  of Judah. ⁵  22:11 So Jehoshabeath, ⁶  the daughter of King Jehoram, ⁷  took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away ⁸  from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him. 22:12 He remained in hiding in God’s temple ⁹  for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

¹ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

² tn Heb “they said.”

³ tn Heb “and there was no one belonging to the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for kingship.”

⁴ tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum, “arise”) is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125.

⁵ tn Heb “house of Judah.”

⁶ sn Jehoshabeath is a variant spelling of the name Jehosheba (2 Kgs 11:2).

⁷ tn Heb “the king”; the referent (King Jehoram, see later in this verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “stole.”

⁹ tn Heb “and he was with them in the house of God hiding.”