Dictionary Article

Son of Menahem, king of Israel. Pekahiah (whose name means “Yahweh has opened [his eyes]”) was among the 20 kings who ruled Israel from Samaria following its decline consequent to the fracture of the Solomonic monarchy in the tenth century BC. The brief account in the Bible concerning him (2 Kgs 15:22-26) points to the godlessness of his life (v 24). His sin, like that of his father (Menahem), was linked to the false worship of Jeroboam, who built shrines at Dan and Bethel to rival worship in the temple at Jerusalem. Such religious activity threatened the true worship of God by attempting to fuse biblical concepts with the fertility cult of Baal, a movement sharply denounced by the Word of God (1 Kgs 13:1-5). Like many of Israel’s kings, Pekahiah ruled briefly, being assassinated in the second year of his reign. The chief instigator of the plot against him, a captain named Pekah, took 50 men of Gilead and killed the king, along with two aides, in the citadel of the royal palace at Samaria. His successor, Pekah, was regrettably as evil as Pekahiah and received the condemnation of Scripture typical of virtually all the Israelite kings: he “did what was evil in the Lord’s sight” (2 Kgs 15:28, NLT).

Show passage in OET: KI2 15:22–26

OET-RV KI2 15:22

22 Then Menahem died and was buried, and his son Pekahyah replaced him as king.

OET-RV KI2 15:23

23 In the fiftieth year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah (Judah), Menahem’s son Pekahyah became king over Yisrael (Israel) and reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for two years.

OET-RV KI2 15:24

24 He did what Yahweh had said was evil—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nevat’s son Yarov’am (Jeroboam) who had caused Yisrael to sin.

OET-RV KI2 15:25

25 But Pekah the son of Remalyah, Pekahyah’s third officer, plotted to assassinate him, and he attacked him in the palace in Shomron with the assistance of Argov and Aryeh and fifty Giladim. So Pekah killed King Pekahyah and replaced him as king.

OET-RV KI2 15:26

26 Everything else that Pekahyah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael—look at it.

OET-LV KI2 15:22

22 And_ Mənaḩēm _he _lay _down with ancestors _of_his and_ Pəqaḩ^yāh son _of_his _he _became _king in_place _of _him.

OET-LV KI2 15:23

23 In_year fifty year of_ˊAzar^yāh the _king _of Yəhūdāh/(Judah) Pəqaḩ^yāh the _son _of Mənaḩēm he _became _king over Yisrā^ʼēl/(Israel) in_Shomrōn two _years.

OET-LV KI2 15:24

24 And_he/it _made the_evil in/on_both _eyes _of YHWH not he _turned _aside from_the _sins _of Yāroⱱˊām the _son _of Neⱱaţ which he _caused _to _sin DOM Yisrā^ʼēl/(Israel).

OET-LV KI2 15:25

25 And_he _conspired on/upon/above_him/it Peqaḩ the _son _of Rəmal^yāhū officer _of_his and_he_struck _him _down in_Shomrōn in_the _fortress _of the _house _of the _king with ʼArgoⱱ and_DOM (the)_ʼAryēh and_were_with_him fifty man from_(the)_sons the_Gilˊādites and_he_killed _him and_he _became _king in_place _of _him.

OET-LV KI2 15:26

26 And_the _rest _of the _matters _of Pəqaḩ^yāh and_all that he _did THERE_they are_written on the _scroll _of the _matters _of the_days of_the _kings _of of _Yisrā^ʼēl/(Israel).

Show passage in OET: KI2 15:24

OET-RV KI2 15:24

24 He did what Yahweh had said was evil—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nevat’s son Yarov’am (Jeroboam) who had caused Yisrael to sin.

OET-LV KI2 15:24

24 And_he/it _made the_evil in/on_both _eyes _of YHWH not he _turned _aside from_the _sins _of Yāroⱱˊām the _son _of Neⱱaţ which he _caused _to _sin DOM Yisrā^ʼēl/(Israel).

Show passage in OET: KI1 13:1–5

OET-RV KI1 13:1

13 Then a prophet from of God came from Yehudah, taking Yahweh’s message to Beyt -El. as Yarov’am was standing by the altar to burn incense.

OET-RV KI1 13:2

2 The prophet called out against the altar with Yahweh’s message: “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says this: Listen, one of David’s descendants will have a son who’ll be named Yoshiyah (Josiah), and he’ll sacrifice the priests from the hill temples on you—the ones who are burning incense on you. Yes, human bones will be burnt on you.”

OET-RV KI1 13:3

3 Then he offered them evidence that what he said came from Yahweh, “Listen, that altar will be broken into pieces, and the ashes in it will spill all over the ground.”

OET-RV KI1 13:4

4 The moment the King Yarov’am heard the message that the man of God had called out against the altar at Beyt-El, he called for the man to be arrested. However, the arm that he used to point to him over the altar suddenly became paralysed and he wasn’t able to pull it back.

OET-RV KI1 13:5