2 Kings 8 · Verse 26

2 Kings 8:26

Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
2 Kings 8:26, King James Version

2 Kings 8:26 in other translations

BSBAhaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.
WEBAhaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
ASVTwo and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
YLTa son of twenty and two years is Ahaziah in his reigning, and one year he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother is Athaliah daughter of Omri king of Israel,
DARBYAhaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
BBEAhaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.
WebsterTwo and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.

What does 2 Kings 8:26 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 26 Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign - In 2Chr 22:2, it is said, forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; this is a heavy difficulty, to remove which several expedients have been used. It is most evident that, if we follow the reading in Chronicles, it makes the son two years older than his own father! for his father began to reign when he was thirty-two years old, and reigned eight years, and so died, being forty years old; see 2Kgs 8:17. Dr. Lightfoot says, "The original meaneth thus: Ahaziah was the son of two and forty years; namely, of the house of Omri, of whose seed he was by the mother's side; and he walked in the ways of that house, and came to ruin at the same time with it. This the text directs us to look after, when it calleth his mother the daughter of Omri, who was indeed the daughter of Ahab. Now, these forty-two years are easily reckoned by any that will count back in the Chronicle to the second of Omri. Such another reckoning there is about Jechoniah, or Jehoiachin, 2Kgs 24:8 : Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign. But, 2Chr 36:9, Jehoiachin was the son of the eight years; that is, the beginning of his reign fell in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar, and of Judah's first captivity." - Works, vol. i., p. 87. After all, here is a most manifest contradiction, that cannot be removed but by having recourse to violent modes of solution. I am satisfied the reading in 2Chr 22:2 (note), is a mistake; and that we should read there, as here, twenty-two instead of forty-two years; see the note there. And may we not say with Calmet, Which is most dangerous, to acknowledge that transcribers have made some mistakes in copying the sacred books, or to acknowledge that there are contradictions in them, and then to have recourse to solutions that can yield no satisfaction to any unprejudiced mind? I add, that no mode of solution yet found out has succeeded in removing the difficulty; and of all the MSS. which have been collated, and they amount to several hundred, not one confirms the reading of twenty-two years. And to it all the ancient versions are equally unfriendly.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Kings 8:25-29

Names do not make natures, but it was bad for Jehoshaphat's family to borrow names from Ahab's. Ahaziah's relation to Ahab's family was the occasion of his wickedness and of his fall. When men choose wives for themselves, let them remember they are choosing mothers for their children. Providence so ordered it, that Ahaziah might be cut off with the house of Ahab, when the measure of their iniquity was full. Those…

Read the full comment on 2 Kings 8:25-29 →

2 Kings 8:26 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

בֶּן\־ben-[was] a son ofH1121
עֶשְׂרִ֨ים'es.RimtwentyH6242
וּשְׁתַּ֤יִםu.she.Ta.yimand twoH8147
שָׁנָה֙sha.Nahyear[s]H8141
אֲחַזְיָ֣הוּ'a.chaz.Ya.huAhaziahH274
בְמָלְכ֔וֹve.ma.le.Khowhen became king heH4427
וְשָׁנָ֣הve.sha.Nahand a yearH8141
אַחַ֔ת'a.ChatoneH259
מָלַ֖ךְma.Lakhhe reignedH4427
בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbi.ru.sha.Limin JerusalemH3389
וְשֵׁ֤םve.Shemand [the] name ofH8034
אִמּוֹ֙'i.Momother hisH517
עֲתַלְיָ֔הוּ'a.tal.Ya.hu[was] AthaliahH6271
בַּת\־bat-[the] daughter ofH1323
עָמְרִ֖י'a.me.RiOmriH6018
מֶ֥לֶךְMe.lekh[the] king ofH4428
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל\׃Yis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Kings 8:26

  • 2 Chronicles 22:2

    Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.

  • 2 Kings 11:13-16

    And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the Lord. And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason. But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges: and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord. And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there was she slain.

  • 2 Chronicles 22:5-8

    He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth–gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram. And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick. And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them.

  • 2 Kings 9:21-27

    And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. …

  • 2 Kings 11:1

    And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Two and twenty.In the parallel passage of Chronicles, it is said, "forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign;" but this is evidently a mistake, as it makes the son two years older than his own father! For his father began to reign when he was thirty-two years old, and reigned eight years, and so died, being forty years old. See ver. 17, and the Note on 2 Ch 22:2.
one year.
9:21-27; 2Ch 22:5-8
Athaliah.
11:1,13-16
daughter. or, grand-daughter.
18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 2 Kings 8:25

    In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.

  • 2 Kings 8:26

    Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.

  • 2 Kings 8:27

    And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.

Read all of 2 Kings 8

2 Kings 8:26 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		De veintidós años era Ochôzías cuando comenzó á reinar, y reinó un año en Jerusalem. El nombre de su madre fué Athalía hija de Omri rey de Israel.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Achazia était âgé de 22 ans lorsqu’il commença de régner; et il régna un an à Jérusalem; et le nom de sa mère était Athalie, fille d’Omri, roi d’Israël.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Jahre war Ahasja alt, als er König wurde, und er regierte ein Jahr zu Jerusalem; und der Name seiner Mutter war Athalja, die Tochter Omris, des Königs von Israel.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Viginti duorum annorum erat Ochozias cum regnare cœpisset, et uno anno regnavit in Jerusalem: nomen matris ejus Athalia filia Amri regis Israël.