2 Kings 8:26 vs 2 Chronicles 22:2, Ahaziah's two ages
Ahaziah is reported as twenty-two in Kings and forty-two in Chronicles; the packet preserves both readings without resolving them. At forty-two, he would be older than his father.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads ארבעים ושתים. The copies also carry עשרים ושתים [hebrew manuscript attestation]; the committee kept the base text. The single early, attested witness supports the harder reading that best explains the rise of the easier alternatives.”
In the APB 3.5 decision, the committee kept the base text at 2 Chronicles 22:2, while the printed translation retains forty-two there and twenty-two in 2 Kings 8:26. Its note says, “The base text reads ארבעים ושתים. The copies also carry עשרים ושתים [hebrew manuscript attestation]; the committee kept the base text.” The pericope audit verdict is 'clean'.
The argument for each reading
If twenty-two
Reading A is the Kings figure: עשרים ושתים, expressed in the MT row as twenty-two years old. That figure is coherent with the packet's statement that Ahaziah's father Jehoram died at forty. The LXX row for Chronicles also gives εἴκοσι, twenty years old, placing a lower accession age in a translation for the Chronicles passage. The APB printed text for 2 Kings 8:26 likewise says that Ahaziah was twenty-two when he began to reign. This case accounts directly for the age problem created by forty-two, while leaving the received Chronicles wording to be explained.
If forty-two
Reading B follows the Chronicles MT entry, whose received figure is ארבעים ושתים, forty-two years old. The APB printed translation also has Ahaziah forty-two in 2 Chronicles 22:2. The 3.5 decision retained that base text even while noting copies with the lower Hebrew wording. Its note presents the base figure as the harder reading and says that it explains the rise of easier alternatives. The packet also observes that Hebrew numerals were written as words rather than digits, making a scribal slip easy. This case preserves the received Chronicles figure, while facing the stated consequence that forty-two exceeds his father's age at death.
The evidence leaves a real question about how the Chronicles figure relates to the Kings figure and to the Greek twenty. The variant changes the reported age at accession; both printed verses state a one-year reign. The packet supplies no doctrinal claim that turns on this number. Most doctrines rest on many passages, rather than on one age figure.
Common questions
Was Ahaziah 22 or 42 when he became king?
2 Kings 8:26 gives twenty-two; 2 Chronicles 22:2 gives forty-two. The listed LXX Chronicles witness reads twenty.
Why does forty-two create a problem?
The packet states that at forty-two Ahaziah would be older than his own father. Its Kings witness says twenty-two is coherent with Jehoram dying at forty.
What did the APB print for Ahaziah's age?
The APB prints twenty-two in 2 Kings 8:26 and forty-two in 2 Chronicles 22:2. Its 3.5 decision kept the Chronicles base text.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.