Jecholiah

Jecholiah is named twice in scripture, in the parallel regnal-formula notices that introduce the long reign of King Azariah of Judah — the same king the Chronicler calls Uzziah. UPDV spells her name "Jecoliah" in Kings and "Jechiliah" in Chronicles. Both verses identify her as a Jerusalemite, the mother of the king who came to the throne at sixteen and ruled fifty-two years.

Mother of the Judean King

The Kings notice opens her son's reign by date, age, and capital, then names her: "In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem" (2 Kgs 15:1-2). The verdict that follows links his reign to his father's: "And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done" (2 Kgs 15:3).

The Chronicler, calling the same king Uzziah, repeats the formula with her name in its second UPDV spelling: "Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done" (2 Chr 26:3-4). The two notices give her no other detail than this — a Jerusalem origin and the long, broadly faithful reign of her son.