2 Kings 11:1–12:21
Athaliah Usurps the Throne in Judah
11 Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, so she prepared to destroy all of the offspring of the royal family. 2 But Jehosheba the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah took Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, and she stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, putting him and his nurse in the inner bedroom. So they hid him from the presence of Athaliah, and he was not killed. 3 He remained with her in the temple of Yahweh, hidden for six years while Athaliah was reigning over the land.
4 But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the commanders of the hundreds of the Carites and the runners, and he brought them to himself to the temple of Yahweh. Then he ⌊made⌋a a covenant with them and made them swear in the house of Yahweh and showed them the son of the king. 5 He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you must do: one third of you ⌊who go off duty on the Sabbath⌋,b the keepers of the guard in the house of the king, 6 and another third at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the runners, shall guard the post of the palace alternately. 7 Two of the units among you, all ⌊who go on duty on the Sabbath⌋,c guard the post of the temple of Yahweh for the king. 8 You must surround the king all about, each with his weapon in his hand; whoever comes to the ranks must be killed. Be with the king ⌊wherever he goes⌋.”d
9 So the commanders of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and each took his men ⌊who went off duty on the Sabbath⌋e and those ⌊who came on duty on the Sabbath⌋,f and they came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 Then the priest gave to the commanders of the hundreds spears and small round shields which were King David’s, which were in the temple of Yahweh. 11 So the royal runners stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the side of the temple to the south up to the side of the temple on the north, around the altar and around the temple, about the king all around. 12 Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!”
13 When Athaliah heard the sound of the runners of the people, she came to the people at the temple of Yahweh. 14 She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and she called, “Treason, treason!” 15 Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of the hundreds, the appointed of the army, and he said to them, “Bring her out to the house of the ranks! The one coming after her should kill her with the sword,” for the priest had said, “Let her not be killed in the temple of Yahweh.” 16 So ⌊they grabbed her⌋g as she went by the entranceway of the horses to the palace of the king, and she was killed there. 17 Then Jehoiada ⌊made⌋h a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that the people should be as a people for Yahweh, and also a covenant between the king and the people. 18 Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down, and its altars and its images they broke completely into pieces. Mattan the priest of Baal they killed in front of the altars. Then the priest put guards over the house of Yahweh. 19 He took the commanders of the hundreds and the Carites and the runners and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the temple of Yahweh. And they marched by the way of the runner’s gate to the palace of the king, and he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city rested; for Athaliah had been killed with the sword in the palace of the king.
21i Jehoash was ⌊seven years old⌋j when he began to reign.
12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. 2 Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Only the high places were not removed; the people were still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.
4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, ⌊the money taxed at its proper value for each person⌋a and all of the money that comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh, 5 let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found.”
6 It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. 7 So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, “Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it.” 8 So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.
9 Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. 10 It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. 11 They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh 12 and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it. 13 Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh. 14 For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the templeb of Yahweh with it. 15 They did not have to settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they were dealing honestly. 16 The money of the guilt offering and the money of the sin offering was not brought into the templec of Yahweh, but were each for the priests.
17 At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. 18 Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors,d the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and in the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.
19 Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? 20 Then his servants arose and conspired and killed Joash in the house of the Millo as he was going down toward Silla. 21 Jozabade the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and killed him, so they buried him with his ancestorsf in the city of David. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place.