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2 Kings 13:1–9, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 13:1–9
Jehoahaz suffers Aramean domination
Jehoahaz seeks the Lord under Aram and still inherits a wrecked army
Jehoahaz son of Jehu begins to reign in Samaria and does what is evil, walking in the sins of Jeroboam. The anger of the Lord is kindled, and he gives them repeatedly into the hand of Hazael and Ben-hadad son of Hazael. Jehoahaz seeks the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listens because he sees the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppresses them. The Lord gives Israel a savior, so they escape from the hand of Aram, and the people live in their homes as before.
Yet they do not depart from the sins of Jeroboam. The Asherah also remains in Samaria. The narrator then shows the army that is left: fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. Jehoahaz sleeps with his fathers, and Joash his son reigns. Mercy can house a people again without restoring the strength they assumed would always be there.
How this should shape us
Cry to God when oppression is real; he may listen. Do not treat that listening as a reset button if the calves and the Asherah stay put, and do not confuse surviving in your homes with having your former power back.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 13:1–9 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The unnamed savior and the chronology of relief have several proposals; the text emphasizes mercy without identifying the agent.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Kings 13:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 13:1–9
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 646–648, translation and translator notes for 13:1–9
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 257–261, exposition covering 2 Kings 13:1–9
Supports: Only the abstract-supported conclusion that regnal synchronisms, MT-LXX differences, and reconstruction remain contested without consensus.
McKenzie and Villar Vegas, 'The Royal Chronology of the Books of Kings,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 216–230
Supports: Only publisher-visible framing for Judah under Israelite, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian power using texts, inscriptions, and archaeology with limits.
Hasegawa, 'History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 243–257
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 13:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 13:1–9
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 646–648, translation and translator notes for 13:1–9
Open source ↗scholarly commentary chapter
1 and 2 Kings
Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Exact location: Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 257–261, exposition covering 2 Kings 13:1–9
Open source ↗scholarly handbook chapter abstract and metadata
Royal Chronology
Steven L. McKenzie and David Villar Vegas
The Oxford Handbook of the Books of Kings, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the abstract-supported conclusion that regnal synchronisms, MT-LXX differences, and reconstruction remain contested without consensus.
Exact location: McKenzie and Villar Vegas, 'The Royal Chronology of the Books of Kings,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 216–230
Open source ↗scholarly handbook chapter abstract and metadata
History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah
Shuichi Hasegawa
The Oxford Handbook of the Books of Kings, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Only publisher-visible framing for Judah under Israelite, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian power using texts, inscriptions, and archaeology with limits.
Exact location: Hasegawa, 'History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 243–257
Open source ↗