2 Kings 11 - 12 - Legacy Standard Bible

2 Kings 11 - 12

Athaliah Reigns over Judah

Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son had died. So she rose and caused all the royal seed to perish. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. 3 So he was hidden away with her in the house of Yahweh six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land. 4 Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent for and took the commanders of hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him in the house of Yahweh. Then he cut a covenant with them and had them swear in the house of Yahweh, and showed them the king’s son. 5 And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: one-third of you, who come in on the sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house 6 (one-third also shall be at the gate Sur, and one-third at the gate behind the guards), shall keep watch over the house for defense. 7 And two parts of you, even all who go out on the sabbath, shall also keep watch over the house of Yahweh for the king. 8 And you shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes within the ranks shall be put to death. And be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.” 9 So the commanders of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 Then the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of Yahweh. 11 And the guards stood each with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house, around the king. 12 Then he brought the king’s son out and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!” 13 Then Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, and she came to the people in the house of Yahweh. 14 And she looked, and behold, the king was standing by the pillar, according to the custom, with the commanders and the trumpeters beside the king; and all the people of the land were glad and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” 15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of hundreds who were appointed over the military force and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her put to death with the sword.” For the priest said, “Let her not be put to death in the house of Yahweh.” 16 So they laid hands on her, and she arrived at the horses’ entrance of the king’s house and was put to death there. 17 Then Jehoiada cut a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that they would be the people of Yahweh, also between the king and the people. 18 And all the people of the land came to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed overseers over the house of Yahweh. 19 And he took the commanders of hundreds and the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh, and came by the way of the gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land were glad, and the city was quiet. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king’s house. 21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

Jehoash Reigns over Judah

In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of Yahweh all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Jehoash Repairs the House of Yahweh

4 Then Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the sacred things which is brought into the house of Yahweh, both the money for each numbered man—the money from each person’s assessment in the census—and all the money which any man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of Yahweh, 5 let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be found.” 6 Now it happened that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damages of the house. 7 Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests and said to them, “Why do you not repair the damages of the house? So now, take no more money from your acquaintances, but give it over to pay for the damages of the house.” 8 So the priests agreed that they would take no more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the house. 9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid and put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Yahweh; and the priests who kept watch over the threshold put in it all the money which was brought into the house of Yahweh. 10 Now it happened that when they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and tied it in bags and counted the money which was found in the house of Yahweh. 11 And they gave the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and they paid it out to the craftsmen of wood and the builders who worked on the house of Yahweh; 12 and to the masons and the hewers of stone, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the damages to the house of Yahweh, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. 13 But there were not made for the house of Yahweh silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver from the money which was brought into the house of Yahweh; 14 for they gave that to those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of Yahweh. 15 Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the men into whose hand they paid the money in order to pay those who did the work, for they were doing it faithfully. 16 The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh; it was for the priests. 17 Then Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it, and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had set apart as holy, and his own holy things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Amaziah Reigns over Judah

19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And his servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash at the house of Millo as he was going down to Silla. 21 Now Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son became king in his place.