Short answer: 2 Kings 23:31–37 does not name Josiah's wife directly. It names Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah as the mother of Jehoahaz, the son the people anointed after Josiah died at Megiddo. It names Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah as the mother of Jehoiakim, whom Pharaoh Necoh placed on the throne in Jehoahaz's place. So Hamutal answers the question, and Zebidah is given as the mother of Josiah's other reigning son.
A throne in the shadow of Egypt
Second Kings 23:31–37 belongs to covenant history, a prophetic record of Judah's final kings, written to show why Jerusalem fell. The setting is the years right after Josiah's death. His reforms had reshaped public worship, and then he went out against Pharaoh Necoh at Megiddo and was killed. The narrative does not slow down to mourn. It moves straight into a run of short royal notices, each giving a king's age, the length of his reign, his mother's name, and a verdict. The verdict is the point. These are not neutral annals but a covenant evaluation, and the mothers are named without any comment on their character.
The first notice concerns Jehoahaz. The people of the land anointed him and made him king in his father's place, but he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Pharaoh Necoh bound him at Riblah and took him to Egypt, where he died. Then Pharaoh installed Eliakim, renamed Jehoiakim, as a vassal and set a tribute of silver and gold on the land. Jehoiakim raised it by taxing the people, each according to his assessment. The text says plainly that Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim both did evil in Yahweh's sight, according to all that their fathers had done. The throne now answered to Egypt.
Chapter 24:1–2 widens the frame. Nebuchadnezzar came up, and Jehoiakim served him three years before turning and rebelling. Then raiders came against Judah, and the text is explicit about who sent them: Yahweh sent them to destroy it according to his word spoken by the prophets. This is the literary shape of the whole section. Human kings scheme and rebel, empires press in, and behind it all the covenant God keeps his word. Read as description rather than prescription, these verses explain a catastrophe; they do not promise that every political reversal is God's direct judgment on a nation today.
The mothers named here are Hamutal and Zebidah, and the text records them without moral comment. Nothing in these verses says anything about their character, their faith, or their guilt for the sins of their sons. The verdict falls on Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim themselves. That restraint is worth noticing, because it keeps us from reading a son's failure back into his mother's account.
Grace comes first in the wider story too. Even as Judah's kings do evil and the kingdom crumbles, God is not absent; he is keeping his word, and he will keep the promise he made to David. The right response to a passage like this is not to hunt for hidden blame in the names given, but to take the verdict seriously, to see how quickly a good beginning can be undone, and to trust the God who remains faithful when kings do not.
The mothers named in the last days of Judah
The passage opens with Josiah's death at Megiddo and the swift transfer of power that followed. His servants carry his body back to Jerusalem and bury him in his own tomb, and the people of the land take Jehoahaz and anoint him king in his father's place. That phrase, the people of the land, names the ordinary free citizens of Judah, not a court faction, and they act decisively in the succession. The narrator then gives the standard regnal formula: Jehoahaz was twenty-three, reigned three months, and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. In the books of Kings this recurring line identifies the queen mother of each reign, not a list of the previous king's wives.
Hamutal's son reigned only three months. Pharaoh Necoh, the Egyptian king who had killed Josiah, put Jehoahaz in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, imposed a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold, and set Eliakim on the throne, renaming him Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt and died there. The text records Hamutal's name and her family's town without a word of moral comment. Her son is said to have done evil, but the narrator never traces that evil to her. The passage gives her location, not her character.
Jehoiakim's formula follows the same pattern: he was twenty-five when he began to reign, reigned eleven years, and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. Like Libnah, Rumah is a place name, likely a town in Judah, given to locate the mother's family. The narrator then reports that Jehoiakim did evil, that he taxed the land to pay Pharaoh's tribute, and that in his days Nebuchadnezzar came up and Jehoiakim served him three years before rebelling. The closing verse names Yahweh as the one who sent the raiding bands against Judah, according to his word spoken by the prophets. Two mothers are named; the text assigns no guilt to either.
The mothers named when josiah's sons took the throne
The passage does not name Josiah's wife. It names the mothers of the sons who reigned after him, and it does so in the same formula it uses for kings throughout this book. Jehoahaz, whom the people of the land anointed after Josiah died at Megiddo, had a mother named Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (2 Kings 23:31). Jehoiakim, whom Pharaoh Necoh installed in Jehoahaz's place, had a mother named Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah (2 Kings 23:36). So the direct answer to the question is Hamutal, and the text supplies Zebidah as the mother of Josiah's other reigning son.
Notice how quickly the reform era collapses. Josiah went out against Pharaoh Necoh and was killed at Megiddo, and his servants carried him back to Jerusalem to be buried in his own tomb (2 Kings 23:29–30). The people made Jehoahaz king, but he reigned three months before Pharaoh bound him at Riblah and took him to Egypt, where he died. Pharaoh then renamed Eliakim as Jehoiakim and laid a tribute of silver and gold on the land, which Jehoiakim raised by taxing the people according to Pharaoh's assessment (2 Kings 23:33–35). The throne now answered to Egypt.
Both sons are described in identical terms: each did evil in Yahweh's sight, according to all that his fathers had done (2 Kings 23:32, 23:37). That verdict falls on the kings, not on Hamutal or Zebidah. The text gives these mothers' names and their fathers' towns without a word about their character, and we should not read a son's guilt back onto his mother. What follows confirms the direction of the story: Nebuchadnezzar came up, Jehoiakim served him three years and rebelled, and Yahweh sent raiders against Judah according to the word he spoke by his servants the prophets (2 Kings 24:1–2).
Where readers disagree about the mothers and the verdicts
One common assumption is that the mother named in a royal notice must be the king's only wife or the mother of all his sons. The text does not say that. It names a queen mother for each reign separately: Hamutal for Jehoahaz in 2 Kings 23:31, and Zebidah for Jehoiakim in 2 Kings 23:36. Both women are identified by father and hometown, the way the court record would identify them, and nothing more. Readers who build a family tree from these notices are guessing beyond what is written. What the text gives is a plain report, and it should be read as one.
A second question is whether these mothers shaped their sons' evil. The text is silent. It gives the names without moral comment, then states the verdict on each king in identical wording: he did evil in Yahweh's sight, according to all that his fathers had done (2 Kings 23:32, 23:37). Nothing here commends Hamutal or Zebidah, and nothing here accuses them. Careful readers should resist both moves. A son's sin is not evidence against his mother, and a mother's name in a royal record is not a certificate of virtue. The passage reports; it does not evaluate the women.
Evangelical readers also differ on the verdict formula. Some read it as describing each king's personal guilt before God; others hear it as the accumulated pattern of a dynasty that kept repeating its fathers' sins. The phrase "according to all that his fathers had done" leans toward the pattern, and the wider narrative bears that out: Jehoahaz is taken to Egypt and dies there, and Jehoiakim's rebellion brings raiding bands against Judah, according to Yahweh's word by the prophets (2 Kings 24:1–2). What stays central is that each reign is judged by Yahweh's standard, not by the mother's identity. The names are recorded plainly; the verdict belongs to God.
A throne sliding toward exile and the king who remains
The notices in 2 Kings 23:31–37 read like a ledger of loss. Josiah is dead at Megiddo, and the people anoint Jehoahaz, but Pharaoh Necoh puts him in bonds at Riblah and later takes him to Egypt, where he dies. Egypt then installs Eliakim, renames him Jehoiakim, and taxes the land for silver and gold. The text names the mothers of both kings, Hamutal and Zebidah, without a word about their character. It records only that each son did evil in Yahweh's sight. The throne of David is now being filled and emptied by foreign powers.
Then 2 Kings 24:1–2 adds Babylon to the sequence. Jehoiakim serves Nebuchadnezzar three years, rebels, and Yahweh sends raiding bands against Judah to destroy it, according to the word spoken by the prophets. The narrator is careful: this is not random political chaos but covenant judgment. The kings who did evil are not merely unlucky; they are being handled by the God whose word they ignored. Still, the promise to David has not been cancelled. The text leaves the reader waiting for a son of David who will not be carried off, taxed, or renamed by an empire.
That waiting is where the gospel answers. Jesus is the promised heir of David, and he does not repeat the failures of Jehoahaz or Jehoiakim. He bore the judgment that their rebellion deserved, and God raised him to a throne that no Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar can touch. The exile notices are not the last word about David's line; they are the dark backdrop against which the forever-king shines. For us, the passage warns against trusting in political arrangements or royal pedigrees, and it calls us to cling to the king who reigns in righteousness and whose kingdom will not end.
What faithful response looks like when the throne is unstable
The closing verses of this section read like a ledger of names and dates. Jehoahaz reigns three months, is bound at Riblah, and dies in Egypt. Eliakim becomes Jehoiakim at Pharaoh's choosing. Then Nebuchadnezzar arrives, and Jehoiakim serves him three years before rebelling. Mothers are named too: Hamutal and Zebidah. Scripture records these families without moral comment on the mothers. The text judges each king by his own conduct before Yahweh, not by his parentage. That pattern matters. It invites us to examine our own obedience rather than trace blame backward through our upbringing or ancestry.
Notice where the cost lands. Pharaoh imposes a tribute of silver and gold, and 2 Kings 23:35 says, "Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh." A king's decision presses down on ordinary households. That is a reason to pray for those who carry public responsibility, and for ourselves when our choices fall on others. Obedience in ordinary life includes honesty about the weight our decisions place on the people around us.
The passage also steadies hope. 2 Kings 24:2 says the raiding bands came "according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by his servants the prophets." What God promised through the prophets happened. When national or family circumstances look unstable, that reliability is worth holding onto. Yet none of this promises that faithfulness brings ease; Josiah was faithful and still died at Megiddo. So we obey out of gratitude for grace already given in Christ, not to purchase a comfortable life. Pray for leaders, tend your own conduct, and trust that God's word proves true even when thrones do not.
Biblical fidelity check
The article reads 2 Kings 23:31–37 by watching the royal notice formula closely. Each reign is dated, then located by the queen mother: Hamutal of Libnah for Jehoahaz, Zebidah of Rumah for Jehoiakim. The risk here is treating the named mother as the king's only wife or the mother of all his sons; the text never says that. Another risk is inferring moral influence from her presence in the notice. The passage gives names without comment, then judges each king by Yahweh's standard. Reading the formula as a genealogy of blame goes beyond what is written.
The real disagreement is whether the verdict formula, that a king did evil according to all his fathers had done, describes personal guilt alone or the accumulated pattern of a dynasty. The wording points to a pattern, yet each reign is still named and weighed. Readers also differ over the mothers' influence, and the text stays silent there. What remains central is that the names are reported plainly and that Yahweh's standard, not a mother's identity, judges each reign. Grace frames this: God's word through the prophets stands, and no human succession secures a throne.
Reading 2 Kings 23:31-37 alongside other passages
These names sit inside the larger story of Judah's last kings, so tracing the reign notices and the prophets who spoke into that era repays study. See 2 Kings 22: Josiah Finds the Book of the Law for the reforms that preceded this collapse, 2 Kings 23: Josiah's Reforms and Judah's Downfall for the prophet who ministered during Josiah's reign, 2 Kings 1: Ahaziah's Fall and Elijah's Fire for the Babylonians who ended it, and 2 Kings 10: Jehu's Purge and the Fall of Baal for how the same court is remembered elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Josiah's mother or the mother of his sons in the Bible?
The text names two mothers of Josiah's sons, not Josiah's own mother or wife. Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah was the mother of Jehoahaz, and Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah was the mother of Jehoiakim. Both names appear in the closing verses of 2 Kings 23, attached to the reign notices of those kings. The passage gives no name for Josiah's wife or for Josiah's own mother, so readers should not fill that gap from later tradition.
Why does 2 Kings name the mother of each king of Judah?
The book regularly records a king's age at accession, the length of his reign, his mother's name and a verdict on his conduct. Naming the mother identifies the king's family line and household within Judah's court, and it may also mark which queen mother held standing at the palace. The notice is a formula, repeated king after king, not a comment on the woman's faith or character. In this passage the formula appears for Jehoahaz and again for Jehoiakim, tying each reign to a specific mother and city.
What happened to Josiah's sons Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim?
Jehoahaz reigned only three months before Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah and deported him to Egypt, where he died. Pharaoh then set Eliakim, another son of Josiah, on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim, and he imposed a heavy tribute on the land. Jehoiakim collected that silver and gold by taxing the people according to Pharaoh's assessment. Later, in 2 Kings 24:1–2, Nebuchadnezzar came up and Jehoiakim served him three years before rebelling, and raiding bands came against Judah according to the word Yahweh spoke by the prophets.
