2 Kings 10:30-31

10:30 The Lord said to Jehu, “You have done well. You have accomplished my will and carried out my wishes with regard to Ahab’s dynasty. Therefore four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.”¹ 10:31 But Jehu did not carefully and wholeheartedly obey the law of the Lord God of Israel.² He did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam had encouraged Israel to commit.³

2 Kings 22:19

22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit⁴ and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people.⁵ You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

2 Kings 23:25

23:25 No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses.⁶

¹tn Heb “Because you have done well by doing what is proper in my eyes – according to all which was in my heart you have done to the house of Ahab – sons of four generations will sit for you on the throne of Israel.” In the Hebrew text the Lord’s statement is one long sentence (with a parenthesis). The translation above divides it into shorter sentences for stylistic reasons.

²tn Heb “But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.”

³tn Heb “He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to commit.”

³tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”

⁴tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.

⁴tn Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his being according to all the law of Moses, and after him none arose like him.”