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Jehoshaphat returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem.

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he often traveled through his kingdom, from Beersheba in the south to the edge of the hill country of Ephraim in the north. He talked with the people and convinced them to turn back to the Lord God and worship him, just as their ancestors had done.

Then he explained his plan and appointed men to march in front of the army and praise the Lord for his holy power by singing: "Praise the Lord ! His love never ends."

So Jehoshaphat and his troops went into the camp to carry away everything of value. They found a large herd of livestock, a lot of equipment, clothes, and other valuable things. It took them three days to carry it all away, and there was still some left over.

Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord , just as his father Asa had done,

Jehoshaphat died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became king.

Jehoshaphat gave each of them silver and gold, as well as other valuable gifts. He also put them in charge of the fortified cities in Judah, but he had chosen his oldest son Jehoram to succeed him as king.

After Jehoram had taken control of Judah, he had his brothers killed, as well as some of the nation's leaders.

but because the Lord had made a solemn promise to King David that someone from his family would always rule in Judah, he refused to wipe out David's descendants.

Jehoram, his officers, and his cavalry marched to Edom, where the Edomite army surrounded them. He escaped during the night,

but Judah was never able to regain control of Edom. Even the town of Libnah rebelled at that time. Those things happened because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord , the God his ancestors had worshiped.

Instead you have acted like those sinful kings of Israel and have encouraged the people of Judah to stop worshiping the Lord , just as Ahab and his descendants did. You even murdered your own brothers, who were better men than you.

They invaded Judah and stole the royal property from the palace, and they led Jehoram's wives and sons away as prisoners. The only one left behind was Ahaziah, his youngest son.

About two years later, Jehoram died in terrible pain. No bonfire was built to honor him, even though the people had done this for his ancestors.

and she encouraged her son to sin against the Lord . He followed the evil example of King Ahab and his descendants.

In fact, after his father's death, Ahaziah sinned against the Lord by appointing some of Ahab's relatives to be his advisors. Their advice led to his downfall.

then gave orders to find Ahaziah. Jehu's officers found him hiding in Samaria. They brought Ahaziah to Jehu, who immediately put him to death. They buried Ahaziah only because they respected Jehoshaphat his grandfather, who had done his best to obey the Lord . There was no one from Ahaziah's family left to become king of Judah.

but Jehosheba rescued Joash son of Ahaziah just as the others were about to be murdered. Jehosheba, who was Jehoram's daughter and Ahaziah's half sister, was married to Jehoiada the priest. So she was able to hide her nephew Joash and his personal servant in a bedroom in the Lord 's temple where he was safe from Athaliah.

The Levites and the people of Judah followed Jehoiada's orders. The guards going off duty were not allowed to go home, and so each commander had all his guards available—those going off duty as well as those coming on duty.