23 But in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and entered into a compact with the commanders of the hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.^{(A) 2} They went around through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the towns of Judah and the heads of families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³ Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada^[a] said to them, “Here is the king’s son! Let him reign, as the Lord promised concerning the sons of David.^{(B) 4} This is what you are to do: one-third of you, priests and Levites, who come on duty on the Sabbath shall be gatekeepers,^{(C) 5} one-third shall be at the king’s house, and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation, and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶ Do not let anyone enter the house of the Lord except the priests and ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy, but all the other^[b] people shall observe the instructions of the Lord. ⁷ The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand, and whoever enters the house shall be killed. Stay with the king in his comings and goings.”^(D)

Joash Crowned King

⁸ The Levites and all Judah did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to come on duty on the Sabbath with those who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, for the priest Jehoiada did not dismiss the divisions.^{(E) 9} The priest Jehoiada delivered to the captains the spears and the large and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God,^{(F) 10} and he set all the people as a guard for the king, everyone with weapon in hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. ¹¹ Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they shouted, “Long live the king!”^(G)

Death of Athaliah

¹² When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to the people;^{(H) 13} when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” ¹⁴ Then the priest Jehoiada brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; anyone who follows her is to be put to the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁵ So they laid hands on her; she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house, and there they put her to death.^(I)

¹⁶ Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ Then all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.^{(J) 18} Jehoiada assigned the care of the house of the Lord to the Levitical priests whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David.^{(K) 19} He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean.^{(L) 20} And he took the captains, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the upper gate to the king’s house. They set the king on the royal throne.^{(M) 21} So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword.

Joash Repairs the Temple

24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.^{(N) 2} Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of the priest Jehoiada.^{(O) 3} Jehoiada got two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

⁴ Some time afterward Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord.^{(P) 5} He assembled the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather silver from all Israel to repair the house of your God, year by year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶ So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, on^[c] the congregation of Israel for the tent of the covenant?”^{(Q) 7} For the children of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had even used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.^(R)

⁸ So the king gave command, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹ A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.^{(S) 10} All the leaders and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until it was full. ¹¹ Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was a large amount of silver in it, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. So they did day after day and collected silver in abundance.^{(T) 12} The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³ So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward at their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it.^{(U) 14} When they had finished, they brought the rest of the silver to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the house of the Lord, utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, and ladles, and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.

Apostasy of Joash

¹⁵ But Jehoiada grew old and full of days and died; he was one hundred thirty years old at his death. ¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and for God and his house.^(V)

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and served the sacred poles^[d] and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.^{(W) 19} Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord; they testified against them, but they would not listen.^(X)

²⁰ Then the spirit of God took possession of^[e] Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.”^{(Y) 21} But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord.^{(Z) 22} King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”^(AA)

Death of Joash

²³ At the end of the year, the army of Aram came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people from among them and sent all the spoil they took to the king of Damascus.^{(AB) 24} Although the army of Aram had come with few men, the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army because they had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.^(AC)

²⁵ When they had withdrawn, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son^[f] of the priest Jehoiada, and they killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.^{(AD) 26} Those who conspired against him were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷ Accounts of his sons, and of the many oracles against him, and of the rebuilding^[g] of the house of God are written in the Commentary on the Book of the Kings. And his son Amaziah succeeded him.^(AE)

Reign of Amaziah

25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.^{(AF) 2} He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart.^{(AG) 3} As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had murdered his father the king. ⁴ But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “The parents shall not be put to death for the children or the children be put to death for the parents, but all shall be put to death for their own sins.”^(AH)

Slaughter of the Edomites

⁵ Amaziah assembled the people of Judah and set them by ancestral houses under commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and up and found that they were three hundred thousand picked troops fit for war, able to handle spear and shield.^{(AI) 6} He also hired one hundred thousand mighty warriors from Israel for one hundred talents of silver. ⁷ But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—all these Ephraimites. ⁸ Rather, go by yourself and act; be strong in battle, or God will fling you down before the enemy, for God has power to help or to overthrow.”^{(AJ) 9} Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” ¹⁰ Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim, letting them go home again. But they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger.

¹¹ Amaziah strengthened himself and led out his people; he went to the Valley of Salt and struck down ten thousand men of Seir.^{(AK) 12} The people of Judah captured another ten thousand alive, took them to the top of Sela, and threw them down from the top of Sela, so that all of them were dashed to pieces. ¹³ But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon; they killed three thousand people in them and took much plunder.

¹⁴ Now after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his gods, and worshiped them, making offerings to them.^{(AL) 15} The Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you resorted to a people’s gods who could not deliver their own people from your hand?”^{(AM) 16} But as he was speaking, the king^[h] said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be put to death?” So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”

Israel Defeats Judah

¹⁷ Then King Amaziah of Judah took counsel and sent to King Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.”^{(AN) 18} King Joash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush.^{(AO) 19} You say, ‘See, I^[i] have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. Now stay at home; why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”^(AP)

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen—it was God’s doing, in order to hand them over because they had sought the gods of Edom.^{(AQ) 21} So King Joash of Israel went up; he and King Amaziah of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²² Judah was defeated by Israel; everyone fled home. ²³ King Joash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah son of Joash son of Ahaziah at Beth-shemesh; he brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits.^{(AR) 24} He seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God, and Obed-edom with them; he seized also the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages; then he returned to Samaria.

Death of Amaziah

²⁵ King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of King Joash son of Jehoahaz of Israel.^{(AS) 26} Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ From the time that Amaziah turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁸ They brought him back on horses; he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David.