2 Kings 11–12

Queen Athaliah of Judah

11As soon as King Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah learnt of her son’s murder, she gave orders for all the members of the royal family to be killed. ²Only Ahaziah’s son Joash escaped. He was about to be killed with the others, but was rescued by his aunt Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s half-sister. She took him and his nurse into a bedroom in the Temple and hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed. ³For six years Jehosheba took care of the boy and kept him hidden in the Temple, while Athaliah ruled as queen.

⁴But in the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent for the officers in charge of the royal bodyguard and of the palace guards, and told them to come to the Temple, where he made them agree under oath to what he planned to do. He showed them King Ahaziah’s son Joash ⁵and gave them the following orders: “When you come on duty on the Sabbath, one third of you are to guard the palace; ⁶another third are to stand guard at the Sur Gate, and the other third are to stand guard at the gate behind the other guards.^{w 7}The two groups that go off duty on the Sabbath are to stand guard at the Temple to protect the king. ⁸You are to guard King Joash with drawn swords and stay with him wherever he goes. Anyone who comes near you is to be killed.”

⁹The officers obeyed Jehoiada’s instructions and brought their men to him—those going off duty on the Sabbath and those going on duty. ¹⁰He gave the officers the spears^x and shields that had belonged to King David and had been kept in the Temple, ¹¹and he stationed the men with drawn swords all round the front of the Temple, to protect the king. ¹²Then Jehoiada led Joash out, placed the crown on his head, and gave him a copy of the laws governing kingship. Then Joash was anointed and proclaimed king. The people clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹³Queen Athaliah heard the noise being made by the guards and the people, so she hurried to the Temple, where the crowd had gathered. ^14*There she saw the new king standing by the column at the entrance of the Temple, as was the custom. He was surrounded by the officers and the trumpeters, and the people were all shouting joyfully and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes in distress and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵Jehoiada did not want Athaliah killed in the temple area, so he ordered the army officers: “Take her out between the rows of guards, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.” ¹⁶They seized her, took her to the palace, and there at the Horse Gate they killed her.

Jehoiada’s Reforms

¹⁷The priest Jehoiada made King Joash and the people enter into a covenant with the Lord that they would be the Lord’s people; he also made a covenant between the king and the people. ¹⁸Then the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down; they smashed the altars and the idols, and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.

Jehoiada put guards on duty at the Temple, ¹⁹and then he, the officers, the royal bodyguard, and the palace guards escorted the king from the Temple to the palace, followed by all the people. Joash entered by the Guard Gate and took his place on the throne. ²⁰All the people were filled with happiness, and the city was quiet, now that Athaliah had been killed in the palace.

²¹Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven.

King Joash of Judah

12In the seventh year of the reign of King Jehu of Israel, Joash became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba. ²Throughout his life he did what pleased the Lord, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³However, the pagan places of worship were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

^4*Joash called the priests and ordered them to save up the money paid in connection with the sacrifices in the Temple, both the dues paid for the regular sacrifices and the money given as free-will gifts. ⁵Each priest was to be responsible for the money brought by those he served, and the money was to be used to repair the Temple, as needed.

⁶But by the 23rd year of Joash’s reign the priests still had not made any repairs to the Temple. ⁷So he called in Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the Temple? From now on you are not to keep the money you receive; you must hand it over, so that the repairs can be made.” ⁸The priests agreed to this and also agreed not to make the repairs in the Temple.

⁹Then Jehoiada took a box, made a hole in the lid, and placed the box by the altar, on the right side as one enters the Temple. The priests on duty at the entrance put in the box all the money given by the worshippers. ¹⁰Whenever there was a large amount of money in the box, the royal secretary and the High Priest would come, melt down the silver, and weigh it.^{y 11}After recording the exact amount, they would hand the silver over to the men in charge of the work in the Temple, and these would pay the carpenters, the builders, ¹²the masons, and the stonecutters, buy the timber and the stones used in the repairs, and pay all other necessary expenses. ¹³None of the money, however, was used to pay for making silver cups, bowls, trumpets, or tools for tending the lamps, or any other article of silver or of gold. ¹⁴It was all used to pay the workers and to buy the materials used in the repairs. ^15*The men in charge of the work were thoroughly honest, so there was no need to require them to account for the funds. ^16*The money given for the repayment offerings and for the offerings for sin was not deposited in the box; it belonged to the priests.

¹⁷At that time King Hazael of Syria attacked the city of Gath and conquered it; then he decided to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸King Joash of Judah took all the offerings that his predecessors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah had dedicated to the Lord, added to them his own offerings and all the gold in the treasuries of the Temple and the palace, and sent them all as a gift to King Hazael, who then led his army away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹Everything else that King Joash did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

^20–21King Joash’s officials plotted against him, and two of them, Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, killed him at the house built on the land that was filled in on the east side of Jerusalem, on the road that goes down to Silla. Joash was buried in the royal tombs in David’s City, and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.