For the form of the name Jehoash, see the comments at 2 Kgs 11.21. Unless translators use one form of the name consistently for the same person, readers are likely to be confused. So “Joash” is recommended.

The seventh year of Jehu refers to his rule as king over Israel and not to his age. It is probably a good idea to provide this information clearly in translation as some common language translations have done (for example, Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The remainder of this verse follows the standard formula for introducing a king, telling how long Joash ruled and where his capital city was located, as well as providing his mother’s name and city of origin. Since the expression Zibiah of Beersheba might possibly be misunderstood by readers who do not know that Beersheba is a city, it will be helpful to add the classifier term “city” in translation as Good News Translation has done. Beersheba was located in the southern part of Judah.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .