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2 Kings 11:21

in 2 Kings 11

Joash was seven years old when he became king.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

KJV

Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign.

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This verse in 2 Kings 11

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Being a year old when his father was killed and having been hid six years in the temple.

This site's exposition

Seven years old was Jehoash

The chapter's last half sentence opens the regnal formula that 2 Kings 12:1 completes, and it marks thread one's turn from near extinction to survival, the boy hidden at verse two now seated on David's throne. The lamp promised at 2 Samuel 7 and repeated at 1 Kings 11:36 and 15:4 still burns in Jerusalem, carried through six hidden years by a nurse and a priest's wife rather than by any king's strength. Gill notes the boy was a year old when his father was killed and had spent six of his seven years hidden in the temple.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Now here we have David's promised lamp almost extinguished and yet wonderfully preserved. It was almost extinguished by the barbarous malice of Athaliah, the queen-mother, who, when she heard that her son Ahaziah was slain by Jehu, arose and destroyed all the seed-royal (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Seven years old was Jehoash - The first instance on record of making a child seven years old the king of any nation, and especially of such a nation as the Jews, who were at all times very difficult to be governed.

The words behind it

5 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • בֶּן־[was] a son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • שֶׁ֥בַעseven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • שָׁנִ֖יםyears

    shanimH8141 →877 times

  • יְהוֹאָ֥שׁJehoash

    yehoashH3060 →17 times

  • בְּמָלְכֽוֹ׃ פwhen became king he

    bemalekhoH4427 →348 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Chronicles 24:1–14Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.5 works1 Chronicles 3:11Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,3 works2 Kings 22:1Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.2 works2 Kings 11:4Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son2 works2 Kings 11:2But Jehosheba daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.2 works2 Kings 12:1In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Kings 13:1In the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Kings 22:1

    Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 15:39

      Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

    • 2 Chronicles 34:1–33

      Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.

    • Matthew 1:10

      Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

  • Through

    2 Kings 11:4

    Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 11:19

      He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD and entered the…

    • 2 Kings 11:9

      So the commanders of hundreds did everything that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—and came to Jehoiada the…

    • 2 Kings 11:17

      Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.

    • 2 Chronicles 15:12

      Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.

    • 2 Kings 23:3

      So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul,…

About 2 Kings

The Death of Athaliah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Death of Athaliah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 11 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Kings 11 →