2 Chroniques 23

Joash is made king

¹In the seventh year Jehoiada took courage. He brought the commanders of hundreds into a covenant with him: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah and Elishaphat son of Zichri. ²They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the towns of Judah and the heads of families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³In the house of God the whole assembly made a covenant with the king. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son! He shall reign, as the LORD promised concerning the descendants of David. ⁴Here is what you must do. One third of you who come on duty on the sabbath, priests and Levites, will be gatekeepers at the doorways, ⁵one third will be at the king’s palace, and one third at the Foundation Gate. All the people will be in the courts of the house of the LORD. ⁶Let no one enter the house of the LORD except the priests and the Levites who minister there. They may enter, because they are holy, but all the people must keep the charge of the LORD. ⁷The Levites are to surround the king on every side, each man with his weapons in hand. Anyone who comes into the house must be put to death. Stay with the king wherever he goes.” ⁸The Levites and all Judah did everything Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each brought his men, both the ones who came on duty on the sabbath and the ones who went off duty that day, for Jehoiada the priest had not released the divisions. ⁹Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of hundreds the spears and the two kinds of shields that had belonged to King David and were kept in the house of God. ¹⁰He stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in hand, from the south side of the temple to the north side, beside the altar and the temple, surrounding the king. ¹¹Then they brought out the king’s son and put on him the crown and the testimony. They made him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!”^a

Athaliah is put to death

¹²When Athaliah heard the noise of the people as they ran and praised the king, she went to the people at the house of the LORD. ¹³She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance, with the commanders and the trumpeters beside him. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁴Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of hundreds who were in charge of the troops and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the LORD.”^{b 15}They seized her, and when she came to the entrance of the Horse Gate at the king’s palace, they put her to death there.^c

Jehoiada’s reforms

¹⁶Jehoiada made a covenant binding himself, all the people and the king to be the people of the LORD. ¹⁷Then all the people went to Baal’s house and tore it down. They smashed its altars and its images, and killed Mattan, Baal’s priest, before the altars. ¹⁸Jehoiada put the oversight of the house of the LORD in the hands of the Levitical priests, whom David had assigned in divisions over the house of the LORD. They were to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as the law of Moses directs, with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered. ¹⁹He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, to keep out anyone who was unclean in any way. ²⁰He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers over the people and all the people of the land. He brought the king down from the house of the LORD. They went through the Upper Gate to the king’s palace and seated the king on the royal throne. ²¹All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was at peace. Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.