Queen Athaliah rules Judah

¹⁰ When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, learned of her son’s death, she immediately destroyed the entire royal family of Judah’s dynasty. ¹¹ But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter secretly took Ahaziah’s son Jehoash^[a] from the rest of the royal children who were about to be murdered, and hid him in a bedroom, along with his nurse. In this way Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of the priest Jehoiada and the sister of Ahaziah, hid Jehoash from Athaliah so she couldn’t murder him. ¹² He remained hidden with them in God’s temple for six years while Athaliah ruled the country.

Jehoash rules

24 Jehoash^[a] was 7 years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba. ² Jehoash did what was right in the Lord’s eyes as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. ³ Jehoiada had him marry two wives, and Jehoash fathered sons and daughters.

⁴ Sometime later, Jehoash wanted to renovate the Lord’s temple.

¹³ The workers labored hard, and the restoration progressed smoothly under their control until they had brought God’s temple back to its original state and reinforced it. ¹⁴ As soon as they finished, they brought the remaining money to the king and Jehoiada. They used it to make equipment for the Lord’s temple, including what was used for the service and the entirely burned offerings, pans, and other objects made of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, the entirely burned offerings were regularly offered in the Lord’s temple.

¹⁵ Jehoiada grew old, and when he reached the age of 130, he died. ¹⁶ He was buried among the kings in David’s City because of his exemplary service to Israel, God, and God’s temple.