Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
Show the surrounding paragraph
2 Chronicles 22:2-4 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, because the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the oldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction. He also followed their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. He returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
Parallel Translations
-
Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly.
He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
-
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.
Show all 3 translations
-
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (18)
- Genesis 27:12-13 (v3) What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.” His mother said…
- Proverbs 13:20 (v4) One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
- Genesis 6:4-5 (v3) The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them.…
- Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (v3) You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. For that…
- Deuteronomy 13:6-10 (v3) If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul,…
Show all 18 cross-references
- Judges 17:4-5 (v3) When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved…
- 2 Chronicles 24:17-18 (v4) Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came, and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. They abandoned the…
- Nehemiah 13:23-27 (v3) In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and their children spoke half in the speech of…
- Malachi 2:15 (v3) Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit,…
- Matthew 10:37 (v3) He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- Matthew 14:8-11 (v3) She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.” The king was grieved, but for the sake…
- Acts 4:19 (v3) But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,
- 1 Kings 16:28 (v2) So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son reigned in his place.
- 2 Kings 8:26 (v2) Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter…
- 2 Chronicles 21:6 (v2) He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did Ahab’s house; for he had Ahab’s daughter as his wife. He did that which was evil in…
- Proverbs 1:10 (v4) My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.
- Proverbs 12:5 (v4) The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
- Proverbs 19:27 (v4) If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 That is, after the death of his father.
That is, after the death of his father.
Read 2 Chron. 21:20.
Read full note →
She was Ahab’s daughter, who was the son of Omri.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–4 2Ch 22:2 Forty and two years old [was] Ahaziah…
2Ch 22:2 Forty and two years old [was] Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also [was] Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
Ver. 2. Forty and two years old.] Heb., The son of two and forty years was Ahaziah when he began to reign; i.e., in the last of the two and forty years of the house of Omri, in which it fell, and Ahaziah with it. See on 2Ki 8:26.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah.
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah.
Object. He was then only twenty-two years old, as is affirmed, 2Ki 8:26. Besides, Joram his father died in his fortieth year, as is twice noted, 2Ch 21:5,20; how then can this be true?
Read full note →
Answ. 1. In the Hebrew it is, a son of forty-two years, &c., which is an ambiguous phrase; and though it doth for the most part, yet it doth not always, signify the age of the person, as is manifest from 1Sa 13:1, See Poole "1Sa 13:1". And therefore it is not necessary that this should note his age (as it is generally presumed to do, and that is the only ground of the difficulty); but it may note either,
1. The age of his mother Athaliah; who being so great, and infamous, and mischievous a person to the kingdom and royal family of Judah, it is not strange if her age be here described, especially seeing she herself did for a season sway this sceptre. Or rather,
2. Of the reign of that royal race and family from which by his mother he was descended, to wit, of the house of Omri, who reigned six years, 1Ki 16:23; Ahab his son reigned twenty-two years, 1Ki 16:29; Ahaziah his son two years, 1Ki 22:51; Joram his son twelve years, 2Ki 3:1; all which, put together, make up exactly these forty-two years; for Ahaziah began his reign in Joram’s twelfth year, 2Ki 8:25. And such a kind of computation of the years, not of the king’s person, but of his reign or kingdom, we had before, 2Ch 16:1, See Poole "2Ch 16:1". And so we have an account of the person’s age in 2Ki 8:26, and here of the kingdom to which he belonged.
Answ. 2. Some acknowledge an error in the transcribers of the present Hebrew copies, in which language the numeral letters for twenty-two and forty-two are so like, that they might easily be mistaken. For that it was read twenty-two here, as it is in the Book of Kings, in other Hebrew copies, they gather from hence, that it is at this day so read in divers ancient Greek copies, as also in those two ancient translations, the Syriac and the Arabic, and particularly in that famous and most ancient copy of the Syriac, which was used by the church of Antioch in the primitive times, and to this day is kept in the church of Antioch, from which that most reverend, learned, pious, and public-spirited archbishop Usher did at his own great charge get another copy transcribed, in which he hath published to all the world that he found it here written twenty and two years old, &c. Nor doth this overthrow the authority of the sacred text, as infidels would have it, partly because it is only an historical passage, of no importance to the substantial doctrines of faith and a good life; and partly because the question here is not whether this text be true, but which is the true reading of the text, whether that of the generality of present copies, or that which was used in the ancient copies, which the ancient and venerable translators above mentioned did follow; for it seems unreasonable and uncharitable to think that all of them would have conspired to have changed the text, and put in twenty and two for forty and two, if they had so read it in their Hebrew copies. Nor can this open any great door to those innumerable changes which some have boldly and rashly made in the Hebrew text without any such pretence of authority, as there is for this, which as they are affirmed without reason, or authority, or necessity, so they may as easily be rejected. If all this will not satisfy our present infidels, I desire them only to consider what hath been hinted before upon such occasions, that many difficulties which did seem unanswerable, being now fully cleared by later writers, it is but reasonable to think that this may be so in after-times, either by finding of some Hebrew copies in which it may be twenty and two years, &c., or by some other way.
The daughter of Omri, i.e. of Omri’s family; or of Ahab, Omri’s son. Grandchildren are oft called sons and daughters, as Mat 1:1, Luk 3:26.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Forty two and years old was Ahaziah when he…
Forty two and years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign,.... In Kg2 8:26, he is said to be but twenty two years old at his accession to the throne, which is undoubtedly most correct; for this makes him to be two years older than his father when he died, who was thirty two when he began to reign, and reigned eight years, Ch2 21:20, different ways are taken to solve this difficulty; some refer this to Jehoram, that he was forty two when Ahaziah began to reign, but he was but forty when he died; others to the age of Athaliah his mother, as if he was the son of one that was forty two, when he himself was but twenty two; but no instance is given of any such way of writing, nor any just reason for it; others make these forty two years reach to the twentieth of his son Joash, his age twenty two, his reign one, Athaliah six, and Joash thirteen; but the two principal solutions which seem most to satisfy learned men are, the one, that he was twenty two when he began to reign in his father's lifetime, and forty two when he began to reign in his own right; but then he must reign twenty years with his father, whereas his father reigned but eight years: to make this clear they observe (b), as Kimchi and Abarbinel, from whom this solution is taken, that he reigned eight years very happily when his son was twenty two, and taken on the throne with him, after which he reigned twenty more ingloriously, and died, when his son was forty two; this has been greedily received by many, but without any proof: the other is, that these forty two years are not the date of the age of Ahaziah, but of the reign of the family of Omri king of Israel; so the Jewish chronology (c); but how impertinent must the use of such a date be in the account of the reign of a king of Judah? all that can be said is, his mother was of that family, which is a trifling reason for such an unusual method of reckoning: it seems best to acknowledge a mistake of the copier, which might easily be made through a similarity of the numeral letters, forty two, for twenty two (d); and the rather since some copies of the Septuagint, and the Syriac and Arabic versions, read twenty two, as in Kings; particularly the Syriac version, used in the church of Antioch from the most early times; a copy of which Bishop Usher obtained at a very great price, and in which the number is twenty two, as he assures us; and that the difficulty here is owing to the carelessness of the transcribers is owned by Glassius (e), a warm advocate for the integrity of the Hebrew text, and so by Vitringa (f): and indeed it is more to the honour of the sacred Scriptures to acknowledge here and there a mistake in the copiers, especially in the historical books, where there is sometimes a strange difference of names and numbers, than to give in to wild and distorted interpretations of them, in order to reconcile them, where there is no danger with respect to any article of faith or manners; and, as a learned man (g) has observed of the New Testament,"it is an invincible reason for the Scripture's part, that other escapes should be so purposely and infinitely let pass, and yet no saving and substantial part at all scarce moved out of its place; to say the truth, these varieties of readings, in a few by-places, do the same office to the main Scriptures, as the variation of the compass to the whole magnet of the earth, the mariner knows so much the better for these how to steer his course;''and, with respect to some various readings in the Old Testament, Dr. Owen (h) observes, God has suffered this lesser variety to fall out, in or among the copies we have, for the quickening and exercising of our diligence in our search of his word:
he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, see Kg2 8:26.
Read full note →
(b) In Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralip. fol. 85. E. (c) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 17. So Ben Gersom. (d) See Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 98. (e) Philolog. Sacr. p. 114. (f) Hypotypol Hist. Sacr. p. 67. (g) J. Gregory's Preface to his Works. (h) Divine Original of the Scripture, p. 14.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 Forty two years - Some acknowledge an error in…
Forty two years - Some acknowledge an error in the transcribers of the present Hebrew copies, in which language the numeral letters for 22 and
42 are so like, that they might easily be mistaken. For that it was read 22 here, as it is in the book of Kings, in other Hebrew copies, they gather from hence, that it is at this day so read in divers ancient Greek copies, as also in those two ancient translations, the Syriack and the Arabick, and particularly in that most ancient copy of the Syriack which was used by the church of Antioch in the primitive times, and to this day is kept in the church of Antioch. The daughter - Of Ahab, Omri's Son. Grand-children are often called sons and daughters.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Verse 2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah]…
Verse 2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah] 2Kg 8:26. Ahaziah might have been twenty-two years old, according to 2Kg 8:26, but he could not have been forty-two, as stated here, without being two years older than his own father! See the note there. The Syriac and Arabic have twenty-two, and the Septuagint, in some copies, twenty. And it is very probable that the Hebrew text read so originally; for when numbers were expressed by single letters, it was easy to mistake מ mem, FORTY, for כ caph, TWENTY. And if this book was written by a scribe who used the ancient Hebrew letters, now called the Samaritan, the mistake was still more easy and probable, as the difference between [Samaritan] caph and [Samaritan] mem is very small, and can in many instances be discerned only by an accustomed eye.
The reading in 2Kg 8:26 is right, and any attempt to reconcile this in Chronicles with that is equally futile and absurd. Both readings cannot be true; is that therefore likely to be genuine that makes the son two years older than the father who begat him? Apage hae nugae!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2–3 2Ch 22:2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah…
2Ch 22:2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah — It is said (2Ki 8:26) that he was but two and twenty years old when he began to reign; so that, it is probable, an error has been committed here by the copyist or transcriber. For some Greek copies have here twenty-two years old, and it is so in the Syriac and Arabic translations, and particularly in that most ancient copy of the Syriac, which was used by the church at Antioch in the primitive times, and to this day is kept in the church of Antioch, from which Archbishop Usher did, at his own great charge, get an exact copy transcribed. Athaliah the daughter of Omri — That is, of Omri’s family; or, of Ahab, Omri’s son. Grand-children are often called sons or daughters in the Scriptures.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v2 For “42” read “22” (see the marginal reference). Ahaziah’s…
For “42” read “22” (see the marginal reference). Ahaziah’s father, Jehoram, was but 40 when be died 2Ch 21:20.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Forty-two, &c. Diverse Greek Bibles read twenty-two, agreeably to…
Forty-two, &c. Diverse Greek Bibles read twenty-two, agreeably to 4 K. viii. 18., (Ch.) with the Syriac and Arabic. The Roman (C.) and Alexandrian Sept. have "twenty." H. --- Ochozias was the youngest son, and his father died at forty years of age, C. xxi. 20. C. --- Others would date from the birth of Amri, (Broughton) or of Athalia. But is most probable that we should read 22, as 4 K. C. --- The contradiction has so much perplexed the commentators, that Walton (prol. 36) puts it among the quædam Greek: apora; and De Dieu says, "I would rather plainly confess that this difficulty is to us inexplicable." The error here, "is plainly owing to a mistake of one of the Hebrew numeral letters," c, being put instead of m, which was formerly more similar than it is now. "In Origen’s Hexapla, one of the Greek copies (probably that found in Caracalla’s time) reads here cb, by rendering the number 22, Greek: eikosi kai duo, all which proofs make the mistake indubitable, and strongly recommend this method of correcting it." Kennicott --- Mariana, T., &c. had already suggested this plan, (H.) which is very plausible. D. --- Ochozias might reign twenty years with his father, and only one alone, 4 K. viii. 26. W.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he…
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign--(Compare Kg2 8:26). According to that passage, the commencement of his reign is dated in the twenty-second year of his age, and, according to this, in the forty-second year of the kingdom of his mother's family [LIGHTFOOT]. "If Ahaziah ascended the throne in the twenty-second year of his life, he must have been born in his father's nineteenth year. Hence, it may seem strange that he had older brothers; but in the East they marry early, and royal princes had, besides the wife of the first rank, usually concubines, as Jehoram had (Ch2 21:17); he might, therefore, in the nineteenth year of his age, very well have several sons" [KEIL] (compare Ch2 21:20; Kg2 8:17).
Athaliah the daughter of Omri--more properly, "granddaughter." The expression is used loosely, as the statement was made simply for the purpose of intimating that she belonged to that idolatrous race.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 2. Forty and two years old] LXX., ὢν εἴκοσι…
2. Forty and two years old] LXX., ὢν εἴκοσι ἐτῶν agreeing nearly with 2Ki_8:26, “two-and-twenty years old” (Heb. and LXX.).
daughter of Omri] So 2Ki_8:26, but more correctly “daughter of Ahab” (2Ki_8:18).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–4 (2) Forty and two years old.—An error of transcription.…
(2) Forty and two years old.—An error of transcription. 2Ki_8:26, twenty and two; and so the Syriac and Arabic: the LXX. has “twenty.” Ahaziah could not have been forty when he succeeded, because his father was only forty when he died (2Ch_21:20).
Athaliah the daughter of Omri—i.e., granddaughter, she being daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Kings adds, “king of Israel,” which the chronicler purposely omits. (Comp. Mic_6:16 : “The statutes of Omri,” “the works of the house of Ahab.”)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Forty and two; read, twenty and two, and see…
Forty and two; read, twenty and two, and see parallel, 2Ki_8:26; and note on our 2Ch_21:5. Daughter of Omri; i.e. granddaughter of Omri, as Omri was the father of Ahab.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 in the sight of Yahweh
in the sight of Yahweh
The sight of Yahweh represents his judgment or evaluation. AT: "as Yahweh judged" (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
the house of Ahab was doing
The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house. In this case it refers to the descendants of Ahab. See how you translated this in 2 Chronicles 21:6. AT: "the descendants of Ahab were doing" (See: Metonymy)
they were his advisors
"descendants of Ahab advised him"
to his destruction
"and this caused his destruction"
He also followed their advice; he went
"He also followed their advice and went" or "He also followed their advice to go"
to fight against Hazael, king of Aram
The reader should understand that Hazael did not fight alone, but that he took his army with him. AT: "to fight against Hazael, king of Aram, and his army" (See: Synecdoche)
Hazael
This is a man's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Yahweh
die
Joram
Israel
Aram
Ramoth
Gilead
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v2 22:2-4 The queen mother, Athaliah, exercised significant influence over…
22:2-4 The queen mother, Athaliah, exercised significant influence over the king (see study note on 15:16). Athaliah was very much like her mother, Jezebel (see 22:10–23:15; cp. 1 Kgs 16:31–21:28), and she followed in the footsteps of her grandfather Omri (see 1 Kgs 16:21-26).
22:2 one year: Ahaziah, also known as Jehoahaz, reigned briefly over Judah in 841 BC.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.