2 Kings 8:26 vs 2 Chronicles 22:2 — Ahaziah's two ages
Ahaziah is given as twenty-two in Kings and forty-two in Chronicles. The two ages cannot both describe his accession in the same way, since forty-two would place him older than his father.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
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. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The APB presents different ages in its two crux verses: > Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. For Chronicles it prints: > Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; his mother's name was Athaliah daughter of Omri. The displayed text therefore preserves the contrast.
The case for each reading.
If twenty-two
Reading A is printed in 2 Kings 8:26 as twenty-two, and its MT row reads עשרים ושתים שנה. That row also describes Kings' figure as coherent with Jehoram dying at forty. The LXX (Chronicles), a translation, c. 2nd century B.C., reads εἴκοσι, twenty years old, in Chronicles rather than the received forty-two. Thus A has the Kings figure in the MT and a Greek Chronicles witness with a lower age. The LXX's twenty is not identical to twenty-two, so it supports the lower-age direction without reproducing Kings' number exactly.
If forty-two
Reading B is the received figure of 2 Chronicles 22:2 in the MT: ארבעים ושתים שנה, forty-two years old. The verse gives the same one-year reign and names Athaliah daughter of Omri, while differing on the age. The witness note observes that Hebrew numerals are written as words rather than digits and says a scribal slip is easy; that observation explains why a numeral variation can arise, but it does not identify where it arose. B therefore represents the Chronicles figure as received in its MT witness.
The supplied evidence leaves the relationship between the two numerical forms unresolved. It shows twenty-two in Kings, forty-two in the received Chronicles MT, and twenty in the LXX (Chronicles). The variant concerns Ahaziah's stated age at accession. It does not change the displayed one-year reign or the naming of Athaliah daughter of Omri in both verses.
Asked plainly.
Was Ahaziah 22 or 42 when he became king?
2 Kings 8:26 prints twenty-two; 2 Chronicles 22:2 prints forty-two. The supplied witnesses include the MT for each and the LXX (Chronicles), which reads twenty.
Why does forty-two create a difficulty?
The packet states that at forty-two Ahaziah would be older than his own father. The MT Kings row describes Jehoram as dying at forty.
What details stay the same in both verses?
Both displayed verses say that Ahaziah reigned one year in Jerusalem and name Athaliah daughter of Omri as his mother. They differ over his age.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
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. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.