< 2 Kings 11 >
1 And Athaliah [is] mother of Ahaziah, and she has seen that her son [is] dead, and she rises, and destroys all the seed of the kingdom;
2 and Jehosheba daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, takes Joash son of Ahaziah, and steals him out of the midst of the sons of the king who are put to death, him and his nurse, in the inner part of the bed-chambers, and they hide him from the presence of Athaliah, and he has not been put to death,
3 and he is with her, in the house of YHWH, hiding himself, six years, and Athaliah is reigning over the land.
4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada has sent and takes the heads of the hundreds, of the executioners and of the runners, and brings them to him, into the house of YHWH, and makes a covenant with them, and causes them to swear in the house of YHWH, and shows them the son of the king,
5 and commands them, saying, “This [is] the thing that you do; the third of you [are] going in on the Sabbath, and keepers of the charge of the house of the king,
6 and the third [is] at the Gate of Sur, and the third at the gate behind the runners, and you have kept the charge of the house pulled down;
7 and two parts of you, all going out on the Sabbath—they have kept the charge of the house of YHWH about the king,
8 and you have surrounded the king all around, each with his weapons in his hand, and he who is coming to the ranges is put to death; and be with the king in his going out and in his coming in.”
9 And the heads of the hundreds do according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and take—each [one]—his men going in on the Sabbath, with those going out on the Sabbath, and come to Jehoiada the priest,
10 and the priest gives to the heads of the hundreds the spears and the shields that King David had, that [are] in the house of YHWH.
11 And the runners stand, each with his weapons in his hand, from the right shoulder of the house to the left shoulder of the house, by the altar and by the house, by the king all around;
12 and he brings out the son of the king, and puts the crown on him, and the Testimony, and they make him king, and anoint him, and strike the hand, and say, “Let the king live.”
13 And Athaliah hears the voice of the runners [and] of the people, and she comes to the people [in] the house of YHWH,
14 and looks, and behold, the king is standing by the pillar, according to the ordinance, and the heads and the trumpets [are] by the king, and all the people of the land are rejoicing and blowing with trumpets, and Athaliah tears her garments, and calls, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!”
15 And Jehoiada the priest commands the heads of the hundreds, inspectors of the force, and says to them, “Bring her out to the outside of the ranges, and him who is going after her, put to death by the sword”: for the priest had said, “Do not let her be put to death in the house of YHWH.”
16 And they make sides for her, and she enters the way of the entering in of the horses to the house of the king, and is put to death there.
17 And Jehoiada makes the covenant between YHWH and the king and the people, to be for a people to YHWH, and between the king and the people.
18 And all the people of the land go to the house of Ba‘al, and break it down; they have thoroughly broken its altars and its images, and they have slain Mattan priest of Ba‘al before the altars; and the priest sets inspectors over the house of YHWH,
19 and takes the heads of the hundreds, and the executioners, and the runners, and all the people of the land, and they bring down the king from the house of YHWH, and come by the way of the gate of the runners, to the house of the king, and he sits on the throne of the kings.
20 And all the people of the land rejoice, and the city [is] quiet, and they have put Athaliah to death by the sword in the house of the king;
21 Jehoash is a son of seven years in his reigning.