Bible Contradiction? How long did Jehoash reign?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: How long did Jehoash reign?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

40 years

“In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba..” (2 Kings 12:1)

16 years

“In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.” (2 Kings 13:10)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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