12 A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “the Lord, the God of David your father, says, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the prostitute like Ahab’s house did, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than yourself,
14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a great plague, including your children, your wives, and all your possessions;
15 and you will have great sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.’”
16 The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians who are beside the Ethiopians;
17 and they came up against Judah, broke into it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, including his sons and his wives; so that there was no son left him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 After all this the Lord struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease.