1. Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem appointed his youngest son, Ahaziah, as king in his place. For the robbers of the Arabians, who had fallen upon the camp, had put to death all those who were greater by birth before him. And so Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, reigned as king of Judah.
2. Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.
3. But he too went forth in the ways of the house of Ahab. For his mother impelled him to act impiously.
4. And so he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as the house of Ahab did. For after the death of his father, they were counselors to him, to his destruction.
5. And he walked in their counsels. And he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, to war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth Gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram.
6. And he returned, so that he might be cured at Jezreel. For he had received many wounds in the above-stated battle. And so Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, descended, so that he might visit Joram, the son of Ahab, at Jezreel, while he was ill.
7. Indeed, it was the will of God against Ahaziah that he would go to Joram, and when he had gone, that he also would go out with him against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.