1. Some Arabs had led a raid and killed all King Jehoram's sons except Ahaziah, the youngest. So now the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah king as his father's successor.
2-3. Ahaziah became king at the age of 22, and he ruled in Jerusalem for one year. Ahaziah also followed the example of King Ahab's family, since his mother Athaliah — the daughter of King Ahab and granddaughter of King Omri of Israel — gave him advice that led him into evil.
10. As soon as King Ahaziah's mother Athaliah learnt of her son's murder, she gave orders for all the members of the royal family of Judah to be killed.
11. Ahaziah had a half-sister, Jehosheba, who was married to a priest named Jehoiada. She secretly rescued one of Ahaziah's sons, Joash, took him away from the other princes who were about to be murdered and hid him and a nurse in a bedroom at the Temple. By keeping him hidden, she saved him from death at the hands of Athaliah.
12. For six years he remained there in hiding, while Athaliah ruled as queen.