12When Athaliah heard the shouting of the people and the guards and the acclamation of the king, she came out to the people, to the House of the LORD. 13She looked about and saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, the chiefs with their trumpets beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with musical instruments leading the hymns. Athaliah rent her garments and cried out, “Treason, treason!” 14Then the priest Jehoiada ordered out the army officers, the chiefs of hundreds, and said to them, “Take her out between the ranks, and if anyone follows her, put him to the sword.” For the priest thought, “Let her not be put to death in the House of the LORD.” 15They cleared a passage for her and she came to the entrance of the Horse Gate to the royal palace; there she was put to death.
16Then Jehoiada solemnized a covenant between himself and the people and the king that they should be the people of the LORD. 17All the people then went to the temple of Baal; they tore it down and smashed its altars and images to bits, and they slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. 18Jehoiada put the officers of the House of the LORD in the charge of Levite priests whom David had assigned over the House of the LORD to offer up burnt offerings, as is prescribed in the Teaching of Moses, accompanied by joyful song as ordained by David. 19He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the House of the LORD to prevent the entry of anyone unclean for any reason. 20He took the chiefs of hundreds, the nobles, and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and they escorted the king down from the House of the LORD into the royal palace by the upper gate, and seated the king on the royal throne. 21All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. As for Atha- liah, she had been put to the sword.
24 aJehoash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2All the days of the priest Jehoiada, Jehoash did what was pleasing to the LORD. 3Jehoiada took two wives for him, by whom he had sons and daughters.
4Afterward, Joash decided to renovate the House of the LORD. 5He assembled the priests and the Levites and charged them as follows: “Go out to the towns of Judah and collect money from all Israel for the annual repair of the House of your God. Do it quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. 6The king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not seen to it that the Levites brought the tax imposed by Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the congregation of Israel from Judah and Jerusalem to the Tent of the Pact?” 7For the children of the wicked Athaliah had violated the House of God and had even used the sacred things of the House of the LORD for the Baals. 8The king ordered that a chest be made and placed on the outside of the gate of the House of the LORD. 9A proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem to bring the tax imposed on Israel in the wilderness by Moses, the servant of God. 10All the officers and all the people gladly brought it and threw it into the chest till it was full. 11Whenever the chest was brought to the royal officers by the Levites, and they saw that it contained much money, the royal scribe and the agent of the chief priest came and emptied out the chest and carried it back to its place. They did this day by day, and much money was collected. 12The king and Jehoiada delivered the money to those who oversaw the tasks connected with the work of the House of the LORD. They hired masons and carpenters to renovate the House of the LORD, as well as craftsmen in iron and bronze to repair the House of the LORD. 13The overseers did their work; under them the work went well and they restored the House of God to its original form and repaired it. 14When they had finished, they brought the money that was left over to the king and Jehoiada; it was made into utensils for the House of the LORD, service vessels: buckets and ladles, golden and silver vessels. Burnt offerings were offered up regularly in the House of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada. 15Jehoiada reached a ripe old age and died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. 16They buried him in the City of David together with the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and on behalf of God and His House.
17But after the death of Jehoiada, the officers of Judah came, bowing low to the king; and the king listened to them. 18They forsook the House of the LORD God of their fathers to serve the sacred posts and idols; and there was wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs. 19The LORD sent prophets among them to bring them back to Him; they admonished them but they would not pay heed. 20Then the spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus God said: Why do you transgress the com- mandments of the LORD when you cannot succeed? Since you have for- saken the LORD, He has forsaken you.” 21They conspired against him and pelted him with stones in the court of the House of the LORD, by order of the king. 22King Joash disregarded the loyalty that his father Jehoiada had shown to him, and killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and requite it.”
23At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against him; they invaded Judah and Jerusalem, and wiped out all the officers of the people from among the people, and sent all the booty they took to the king of Damascus. 24The invading army of Aram had come with but a few men, but the LORD delivered a very large army into their hands, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. They inflicted punishments on Joash. 25When they withdrew, having left him with many wounds, his courtiers plotted against him because of the murderb of the sons of Je- hoiada the priest, and they killed him in bed. He died and was buried in the City of David; he was not buried in the tombs of the kings. 26These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 27As to his sons, and the many pronouncements against him, and his rebuilding of the House of God, they are recorded in the story in the book of the kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.
25 aAmaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2He did what was pleasing to the LORD, but not with a whole heart. 3Once he had the kingdom firmly under control, he executed the courtiers who had assassinated his father the king. 4But he did not put their children to death for [he acted] in accordance with what is written in the Teaching, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD com- manded, b-“Parents shall not die for children, nor shall children die for parents, but every person shall die only for his own crime.”-b
5Amaziah assembled the men of Judah, and he put all the men of Judah
and Benjamin under officers of thousands and officers of hundreds, by clans. He mustered them from the age of twenty upward, and found them to be 300,000 picked men fit for service, able to bear spear and shield. 6He hired 100,000 warriors from Israel for 100 talents of silver. 7Then a man of God came to him and said, “O king! Do not let the army of Israel go
