Jehoahaz III of Judah (Hebrew: יְהוֹאָחָז, Yǝhōʾāḥāz, "Yahweh has held"; Greek: Ιωαχαζ Iōakhaz; Latin: Joachaz), also called Shallum,[1] was the seventeenth king of Judah (3 months in 609 BC) and the fourth son[2] of king Josiah whom he succeeded.

[4] In the spring or early summer of 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho II began his first campaign against Babylon, in aid of the Assyrians.

He moved his forces along the coastal route Via Maris towards Syria, along the low tracts of Philistia and Sharon and prepared to cross the ridge of hills which shuts in the Jezreel Valley on the south.

[5] Chronological considerations related to his successor limit the month in which Josiah was killed and Jehoahaz took the throne to Tammuz.

On his return march, he found that the Judeans had selected Jehoahaz to succeed his father Josiah.