1. Jehoahaz, Jehu’s son, became king of Israel in Samaria in the twenty-third year of Judah’s King Jehoash, who was Ahaziah’s son. He ruled for seventeen years.
2. He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. He walked in the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit. He didn’t deviate from them.
3. So the Lord was angry at Israel. Time after time God handed them over to Aram’s king Hazael, and to Hazael’s son Ben-hadad.
4. But Jehoahaz sought the Lord’s presence, and the Lord listened to him because he saw how badly Aram’s king was oppressing Israel.
5. The Lord sent Israel a savior, and they escaped from Aram’s power. Then the Israelites lived peacefully at home, just as they had in the past.