2 Chronicles 23

¹ In the seventh year Jehoiada decided to take action and made a pact with the regimentalcommanders, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son ofAdaiah and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

² These went al over Judah, gathering the Levites from al the towns of Judah, and the heads of theIsraelite families, who then came to Jerusalem,

³ and the whole assembly made a pact with the king in the Temple of God. Jehoiada said to them,'Look, the king's son is now to be king, as Yahweh has promised of the sons of David!

⁴ This is what you must do: a third of you priests and Levites who come on duty on the Sabbath mustguard the gates,

⁵ a third the royal palace, a third the Foundation Gate, while the people must al stay in the courts of theTemple of Yahweh.

⁶ No one must enter the Temple of Yahweh except the priests and the ministering Levites; they maycome in because they are consecrated. But the people must al observe Yahweh's regulations.

⁷ The Levites must surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hands; anyone who enters theTemple must be kil ed. And you wil escort the king when he comes in and when he leaves.'

⁸ The Levites and al Judah did everything as Jehoiada the priest had ordered, and each one broughthis men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priesthad not released any of the divisions from duty.

⁹ Jehoiada the priest then issued the regimental commanders with King David's spears and large andsmal shields, which were kept in the Temple of God.

¹⁰ He then positioned al the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the south side of theTemple to the north side of the Temple, close to the altar and the Temple, to form a circle round the king.

¹¹ Then they brought the king's son out, crowned him, gave him a copy of the covenant and made himking. When Jehoiada and his sons had anointed him, they shouted, 'Long live the king!'

¹² On hearing the people shouting as they ran to acclaim the king, Athaliah joined the people in theTemple of Yahweh.

¹³ When she looked, there stood the king on his dais by the entrance, with the officers and trumpetersat the king's side, and all the people of the country rejoicing and blowing the trumpets, and the singers with theirmusical instruments leading the hymns of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted, 'Treason, treason!'

¹⁴ Jehoiada the priest then gave the order to the regimental commanders in charge of the troops, 'Takeher out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her.' For the priest had already said, 'Do notkil her inside the Temple of Yahweh.'

¹⁵ So they made way for her, and when she reached the entrance to the Horses' Gate of the palace,they kil ed her there.

¹⁶ Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, al the people and the king to remain Yahweh's people.

¹⁷ Al the people then went to the temple of Baal and demolished it; they smashed its altars and itsimages and kil ed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

¹⁸ Jehoiada entrusted the security of the Temple of Yahweh to the priests and Levites, whom David hadput in charge of the Temple of Yahweh to present the burnt offerings of Yahweh as laid down in the Law ofMoses, with joy and song as ordained by David.

¹⁹ He also appointed gatekeepers for the gates of the Temple of Yahweh, so that no one who wasunclean might enter for any purpose at al .

²⁰ He then took the regimental commanders, the nobles, the government officials and al the people ofthe land and he escorted the king down from the Temple of Yahweh. Entering the palace through the UpperGate, they placed the king on the royal throne.

²¹ Al the people of the land were delighted, and the city made no move after Athaliah had been put todeath.