Joiada the high priest causes Joas to be made king: Athalia to be slain, and idolatry to be destroyed.

¹ Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada having been strengthened, he took the centurions, namely, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, and also Azariah, the son of Obed, and Maaseiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri, and he formed a pact with them.

² And traveling through Judah, they gathered together the Levites from all of the cities of Judah, and the leaders of the families of Israel, and they went to Jerusalem.

³ Then the entire multitude formed a pact with the king, in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them: “Behold, the son of the king shall reign, just as the Lord has said concerning the sons of David.

⁴ Therefore, this is the word that you shall do:

⁵ One third part of you who arrive on the Sabbath, priests, and Levites, and porters, shall be at the gates. Truly, one third part shall be at the house of the king. And one third shall be at the gate which is called the Foundation. Yet truly, let all the remainder of the common people be in the courts of the house of the Lord.¹

1. 23:5To the sabbath: That is, to perform in your weeks the functions of your office, or the weekly watches.(Challoner)

⁶ Let no one else enter into the house of the Lord, except the priests, and those from the Levites who are ministering. These alone may enter, for they have been sanctified. And let all the remainder of the common people observe the watches of the Lord.

⁷ Then let the Levites encircle the king, each one having his weapons. And if anyone else will have entered into the temple, let him be slain. And may they be with the king, both entering and departing.”

⁸ Then the Levites, and all of Judah, acted in accord with all that the high priest Jehoiada had instructed. And each of them took the men who were under him, and who were arriving by the course of the Sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the Sabbath and who were about to depart. For indeed the high priest Jehoiada had not permitted the companies to depart, which were accustomed to replace one another each week.

⁹ And Jehoiada, the priest, gave to the centurions the lances and round shields and crescent shields of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ And he positioned all the people, holding short swords, from the right part of the temple to the left part of the temple, before the altar and the temple, all around the king.

¹¹ And they led out the son of the king. And they imposed the diadem on him, and the testimony. And they gave him the law to hold in his hand. And they appointed him as king. Also, the high priest Jehoiada and his sons anointed him. And they prayed for him, and said, “May the king live!”

¹² And when Athaliah had heard it, specifically the sound of running and the praising of the king, she entered to the people in the temple of the Lord.

¹³ And when she had seen the king standing upon the step at the entrance, and the leaders and companies around him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets, and playing on instruments of various kinds, and the voice of those who were praising, she tore her garments, and she said: “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁴ Then the high priest Jehoiada, going out to the centurions and to the leaders of the army, said to them: “Lead her away, beyond the borders of the temple. And let her be put to death outside, with the sword.” And the priest instructed that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord.

¹⁵ And they laid hands on her neck. And when she had entered the gate for the horses at the king’s house, they put her to death there.

¹⁶ Then Jehoiada formed a covenant between himself and the entire people, and the king, so that they would be the people of the Lord.

¹⁷ And so, all the people entered into the house of Baal, and they destroyed it. And they broke apart his altars and idols. Also, they put to death Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.

¹⁸ Then Jehoiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests and Levites, whom David had distributed to the house of the Lord so that they might offer holocausts to the Lord, just as it was written in the law of Moses, with gladness and singing, in accord with the disposition of David.

¹⁹ Also, he appointed porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that whoever was unclean for any reason would not enter.

²⁰ And he took the centurions, and the most valiant men, and the leaders of the people, and all the common people of the land, and they set out to descend to the king, from the house of the Lord, and to enter through the middle of the upper gate, to the house of the king. And they placed him on the royal throne.

²¹ And all the people of the land were rejoicing, and the city was quieted. But Athaliah was slain with the sword.