¹⁶Jehoiada made a promise to the Lord on behalf of the king and his people that they would be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷Then all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his statues and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.

¹⁸Next, Jehoiada appointed officials to be in charge of the Lord’s temple under the direction of the priests and Levites.^a(David had arranged them in divisions for the Lord’s temple. They were appointed to sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord as it is written in Moses’ Teachings. They made these offerings with joy and singing as David had directed.) ¹⁹Jehoiada appointed gatekeepers for the gates of the Lord’s temple so that no one who was unclean^bfor any reason could enter.

²⁰He took the company commanders, the nobles, the people’s governors, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They went through Upper Gate to the royal palace and seated the king on the royal throne. The nobles, the governors of the people, and ²¹all the people of the land were celebrating. But the city was quiet because they had killed Athaliah with a sword.

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Footnotes

a 23:18 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Greek, Syriac, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts “Levitical priests.”
b 23:19 “Unclean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.