1 Then Jehoshaphat {yehoshaphat: Righteous Judge} lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David {ir: royal capital}. And Jehoram his son became king in his place.
2 And he had brothers {achim: royal siblings}, the sons of Jehoshaphat {Yehoshaphat: YHWH Judges}: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariahu, and Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.
3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold, and valuables, along with fortified cities {metzurot: defensive strongholds} in Judah; but he gave the kingdom {mamlakah: royal authority} to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
4 And Jehoram {yehoram: Yahweh is exalted} rose up over the kingdom of his father and strengthened himself, and he killed all his brothers {eḥav: male siblings} with the sword—and also some of the officials of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he took the kingship, and he ruled {malakh: royal tenure} in Jerusalem {yerushalayim: central holy city} for eight years.
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil {hara: deliberate wrongdoing} in the eyes {ein: moral viewpoint} of the LORD {YHWH, Moral Judge}.
7 Yet the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Rememberer} was not willing to destroy the house of David, for the sake of the covenant {berit: sworn pact} that He made with David, and as He said, to give him a lamp and to his sons for all the days.
8 In his days, Edom rebelled {pasha: covenant-breaking revolt} from under the hand of Judah and installed a king {melekh: rival throne} over themselves.
9 Then Jehoram crossed over with his officers and all the chariotry with him. And it came to pass that he rose at night{laylah: time for ambush} and struck the Edomites, those surrounding him, and the officers{sarei: military leaders} of the chariotry.
10 And Edom rebelled from under Judah’s hand until this very day. Then Libnah also rebelled from under his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}, God of his ancestors {avotav: ancestral line}.
11 He also made high places on the mountains of Judah, and he caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry {yezen: illicit cultic prostitution}, and he led Judah astray {yadach: diverted from faithful worship}.
12 A letter {miktav: written declaration} came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Divine Messenger}, the God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or in the ways of Asa king of Judah.”
13 And you walked in the way {derekh: pattern of conduct} of the kings of Israel and caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication as the harlotries {kehaznot: extreme unfaithfulness} of the house of Ahab. And you also killed your brothers, the house of your father, who were better than you.
14 Behold, the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} is striking a great plague upon your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions {rekhush: material wealth}.
15 And you will have many diseases, with a sickness{simple} {machale: grievous illness} from your bowels{bowels} {me'ekha: inner organs}, until your bowels come out from the disease, day after day.
16 And the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Mover} aroused against Jehoram the spirit {ruach: inner stirring} of the Philistines and the Arabs who were beside the Cushites.
17 They went up into Judah and broke it open, and took captive all the possessions {rekhush: goods} that were found in the house of the king, and also his sons and his wives. No son was left to him except Jehoahaz the youngest {qeton: least} of his sons.
18 And after all this, the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} sent upon him a disorder in his bowels that admitted no remedy {marpe: cure or remedy}.
19 And it came about for days {miyamim: unspecified duration}, and at the time when the end of two years arrived, his bowels came out because of his sickness, and he died in severe diseases. His people did not make a burning {serefah: funerary rite} for him as the burning of his fathers.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He left this life without being desired {chemdah: valued remembrance}, and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs {qivrot: royal graves} of the kings.