2 Chronicles 23

1 And in the seventh year Jehoiada made himself strong, and he took the commanders of hundreds — Azariah son of Joram, and Ishmael son of Johanan, and Azariah son of Obed, and Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphan son of Zechariah — with him into the house. [a] 2 And they went around Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the leaders of the fathers’ houses of Israel; and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And the whole assembly of Judah made a covenant in the house of God with the king. And he showed them the king’s son and said to them, “Look — let the king’s son reign, as the Lord said concerning the house of David. 4 Now this is the thing you are to do. A third of you are to go in on the sabbath — of the priests and of the Levites — and to the gates of the entrances; 5 and a third in the king’s house; and a third at the middle gate; and all the people in the courts of the Lord’s house. 6 And let no one come into the house of the Lord except the priests and the Levites and those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, because they are holy; and let all the people keep the watches of the Lord. 7 And the Levites are to close in around the king, all around him, each man with his weapon in his hand; and whoever goes into the house will die. And they are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

8 And the Levites and all Judah did according to everything that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each man took his own men, from the beginning of the sabbath to the going out of the sabbath, for Jehoiada did not dismiss the divisions. 9 And he gave out the swords and the tall shields and the arms that had belonged to King David, in the house of God. [c] 10 And he stationed all the people, each man with his weapons, from the right side of the house to the left side of the altar and the house, all around the king. [d]

11 And he brought out the king’s son and put on him the crown and the witness pieces, and they made him king; and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they said, “Long live the king!” [e] 12 And Athaliah heard the sound of the people running and giving thanks and praising the king, and she came in to the king at the house of the Lord. [f] 13 And she looked, and there was the king at his post, and at the entrance the rulers and the trumpets around the king; and all the people of the land were rejoicing and sounding the trumpets, and those who sang with instruments were there, singers raising a song of praise. And Athaliah tore her robe and cried out and said, “You are attacking me — attacking me!” [g]

14 And Jehoiada the priest went out, and Jehoiada the priest gave orders to the commanders of hundreds and to the heads of the army, and said to them, “Take her out, outside the house, and go in after her, and let her die by the sword.” For the priest had said, “Let her not die in the house of the Lord.” 15 And they gave her room, and she went through the horsemen’s gate of the king’s house, and they put her to death there. [h]

16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the people and the king, that they should be a people for the Lord. [j] 17 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and pulled it down, and its altars; and his images they ground to powder; and Mattan the priest of Baal they put to death in front of his altars. [k] 18 And Jehoiada the priest put the works of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests and Levites, and he set up again the divisions of the priests and the Levites that David had assigned over the house of the Lord, and to bring up whole burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with gladness and with songs by the hand of David. 19 And the gatekeepers stood at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no one unclean in any matter should come in.

20 And he took the heads of families and the mighty men and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and they brought the king up into the house of the Lord; and he came in through the inner gate into the king’s house, and they seated the king on the throne of the kingdom. [l] 21 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. And they put Athaliah to death with the sword. [m]