When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.
- KJV And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.
- NKJV When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs.
- NASB When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and eliminated all the royal children.
- NLT When Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, learned that her son was dead, she began to destroy the rest of the royal family.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When Athaliah learns her son Ahaziah is dead, she massacres the royal family to seize power. The Davidic line in Judah is nearly extinguished.
Overview
Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, ruthlessly murders her own grandchildren to grasp the throne. Her crime threatens God's promise that David would never lack a descendant to reign. This is one of the darkest moments for the messianic line, making God's preservation of one heir all the more crucial to the coming of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 41:1In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there.
- 2 Kgs 25:25In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
- 2 Chr 22:10–12When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.
- Matt 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
- 2 Chr 24:7For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used the sacred objects of the house of the LORD for the Baals.
- 2 Kgs 8:26Ahaziah 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.
- Matt 21:38–39But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
- 2 Kgs 9:27When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.
- Matt 2:13When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 11:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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