Jehoram becomes the king of Judah
16 When Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for five years, Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram started to rule Judah as king. 17 He was 32 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. 18 He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He did what the family of Ahab had done. He married a daughter of King Ahab and he became as wicked as King Ahab's family was. He did things that the Lord said were evil. 19 But the Lord did not want to destroy the nation of Judah, because of his promise to his servant, David. The Lord had promised that King David would always have descendants who would rule the nation.
8:16Jehoram may have started to rule Judah while his father, King Jehoshaphat, was still alive.
20 While Jehoram was king, Edom's people turned against Judah. They would no longer accept the king of Judah's authority over them. They decided to have their own king. 21 So King Jehoram travelled to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomite army came and they were all around him. But that night, Jehoram and his officers attacked the Edomites and they escaped. The Israelite army ran away to go back home. 22 Even today, Edom's people do not obey the rulers of Judah. The people of Libnah city also turned against Judah at the same time.
8:21Zair was a city just inside the border of Edom.
23 The other things that happened while Jehoram was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Jehoram did. 24 Jehoram died and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king after him.
