Bible Strands
2 Kings 9:29
(In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator inserts a chronological note immediately after Ahaziah is buried in Jerusalem and just before Jehu enters Jezreel. It anchors the narrative timeline by marking Ahaziah’s accession relative to Joram’s reign.
The words — מָלַ֥ךְ (ma.Lakh) means “he had become king,” coupled with the temporal phrase וּ/בִ/שְׁנַת֙ אַחַ֣ת עֶשְׂרֵ֣ה שָׁנָ֔ה (u./vi/sh.Nat 'a.Chat 'es.Reh sha.Nah), literally “and in the eleventh year.” These terms fix the succession event to a specific regnal count.
The thread — The regnal dating formula appears in 2 Kings 8:16, which places the rise of Jehoram in Judah during the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab. The same chronological framework tracks the transition from Jehoram to Ahaziah in the Davidic line.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to track the precise overlap of two royal chronologies before the narrative shifts to Jehu’s actions. It establishes that historical sequence, not divine intervention alone, frames the political transition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 21:18 After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels.
- 2 Kings 8:16 In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah.
- 2 Kings 8:24 And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
- 2 Chronicles 22:1 Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place, since the raiders who had come into the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.