CHAPTER 23

¹And in the seventh year Jehoiada gained strength and took the commanders of the hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham and Ishmael son of Jehohanan and Azariah son of Obed and Maaseiah son of Adaiah and Elishaphat son of Zichri into a pact with him. ²And they went round through Judah and gathered together the Levites from all the towns of Judah and the patriarchal chiefs of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³And all the assembly sealed a pact with the king in the house of God. And he said, “Look, the king’s son shall be king as the LORD spoke concerning the sons of David. ⁴This is the thing that you must do: a third of you, who of the priests and of the Levites begin your weekly duty, shall be for the gatekeepers of the thresholds, ⁵and a third in the king’s house, and a third at the Foundation Gate, and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD. ⁶And none shall enter the house of the LORD except the priests and those ministering to the Levites. They may enter, for they are holy. And all the people shall keep the LORD’s watch. ⁷And the Levites shall draw round the king, every man with his weapon in hand, and whosoever enters the house shall be put to death. And be you with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.” ⁸And the Levites and all Judah did as all that Jehoiada the priest had charged, and each took his men, those beginning their weekly duty with those finishing their weekly duty, for Jehoiada had not dismissed the divisions. ⁹And Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of the hundreds the spears and the shields and the bucklers that were King David’s, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰And he stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the south corner of the house to the north corner of the house, by the altar and by the house, all round the king. ¹¹And they brought out the prince and put the crown and the regalia on him, and they made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king.” ¹²And Athaliah heard the sound of the people and the sentries and those praising the king, and she came to the people at the house of the LORD. ¹³And she saw, and, look, the king was standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the commanders and the trumpets were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing the trumpets, and the choristers were with instruments of song, proclaiming to praise. And Athaliah rent her garments and said, “A plot, a plot!” ¹⁴And Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of the hundreds, the mustered men of the force, and said to them, “Take her out from the colonnades, and whoever comes after her by the sword shall be put to death,” for the priest said, “Let her not be put to death in the house of the LORD.” ¹⁵And they locked hands around her, and she came by way of the Horse Gate to the king’s house. ¹⁶And Jehoiada made a pact between him and all the people to be a people of the LORD. ¹⁷And all the people came to the house of Baal and shattered it and smashed its altars and its images, and Mattan the priest they killed in front of the altar. ¹⁸And Jehoiada appointed guards in the house of the LORD in the hands of the priests and the Levites whom David had placed over the house of the LORD to offer up burnt offerings to the LORD as written in the teaching of Moses, in rejoicing and in song, as ordained by David. ¹⁹And he stationed gatekeepers over the gates of the house of the LORD, that no person unclean in any respect should enter. ²⁰And he took the commanders of the hundreds and the leaders and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD, and they came in through the Upper Gate of the king’s house and seated the king on the throne of the kingdom. ²¹And all the people of the land rejoiced, while the town was quiet. And Athaliah they had put to death by the sword.