Athaliah Reigns in Judah^(A)

^10 (B)Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But ^[a]Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took ^(C)Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him. ¹² And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Worshipers of Baal Killed

¹⁸ Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, ^(A)“Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ Now therefore, call to me all the ^(B)prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu acted deceptively, with the intent of destroying the worshipers of Baal. ²⁰ And Jehu said, ^[a]“Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. ²¹ Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. So they came into the ^[b]temple of Baal, and the ^(C)temple of Baal was full from one end to the other. ²² And he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out vestments for them. ²³ Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab went into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and see that no servants of the Lord are here with you, but only the worshipers of Baal.” ²⁴ So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men on the outside, and had said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes, whoever lets him escape, it shall be ^(D)his life for the life of the other.”

²⁵ Now it happened, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them; let no one come out!” And they killed them with the edge of the sword; then the guards and the officers threw them out, and went into the ^[c]inner room of the temple of Baal. ²⁶ And they brought the ^(E)sacred pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned them. ²⁷ Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the ^[d]temple of Baal and ^(F)made it a refuse dump to this day. ²⁸ Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.

³⁰ And the Lord ^(A)said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, ^(B)your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”

²⁹ However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from ^(A)the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.

³¹ But Jehu ^[a]took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from ^(A)the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin.

Joash Crowned King of Judah^(A)

23 In ^(B)the seventh year ^(C)Jehoiada strengthened himself, and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of ^(D)Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri. ² And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the ^(E)chief fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³ Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has ^(F)said of the sons of David. ⁴ This is what you shall do: One-third of you ^(G)entering on the Sabbath, of the priests and the Levites, shall be keeping watch over the doors; ⁵ one-third shall be at the king’s house; and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation. All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶ But let no one come into the house of the Lord except the priests and ^(H)those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord. ⁷ And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house, let him be put to death. You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

⁸ So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath, with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed ^(I)the divisions. ⁹ And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small ^(J)shields which had belonged to King David, that were in the temple of God. ¹⁰ Then he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and by the temple, all around the king. ¹¹ And they brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, ^(K)gave him the ^[a]Testimony, and made him king. Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, “Long live the king!”

Death of Athaliah^(A)

^13 (B)Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the escorts and the people, she came to the people in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴ When she looked, there was the king standing by ^(C)a pillar according to custom; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. So Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵ And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the army, and said to them, “Take her outside ^[a]under guard, and slay with the sword whoever follows her.” For the priest had said, “Do not let her be killed in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁶ So they seized her; and she went by way of the horses’ entrance into the king’s house, and there she was killed.

¹⁶ Then Jehoiada made a ^(A)covenant between himself, the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ And all the people went to the ^[a]temple of Baal, and tore it down. They broke in pieces its altars and images, and ^(B)killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸ Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the Lord to the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had ^(C)assigned in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the ^(D)Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was established by David. ¹⁹ And he set the ^(E)gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter.

^20 (F)Then he took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of the Lord; and they went through the Upper Gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. ²¹ So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet, for they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

² Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which ^(A)Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ But ^(B)the ^[a]high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.