1Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king.

2Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.21:2That is, Judah, as frequently in 2 Chronicles

3Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

4When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel.

5Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

6He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

7Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.

8In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king.

9So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night.

10To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.

11He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

12Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:

13But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you.

14So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow.

15You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’ ”

16The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.

17They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,21:17Hebrew Jehoahaz, a variant of Ahaziah the youngest.

18After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels.

19In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors.

20Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.