In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, and Ismail1 son of Jehohanan, and Azariah son of Obed, and Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri, into covenant with him. 2They went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3All the assembly made a covenant with the king in the House of God2. He said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as YAHWEH3 has spoken concerning the sons of Dawud4. 4This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites5, shall be porters of the thresholds; 5and a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the House of YAHWEH. 6But let no one come into the House of YAHWEH, except the priests, and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the charge of YAHWEH. 7The Levites shall surround the king all around, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house, let him be slain: and be with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out.”
8So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and each one took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath; with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the shift. 9Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king Dawud’s, which were in the House of God. 10He set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king all around. 11Then they brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they said, “Long live the king!”
12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the House of YAHWEH: 13and she looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets; the singers also played on instruments of music, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! Treason!”
14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword!” For the priest said, “Do not kill her in the House of YAHWEH.” 15So they made way for her; and she went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house: and they killed her there.
16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be YAHWEH’s people. 17All the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke its altars and its images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18Jehoiada appointed the officers of the House of YAHWEH under the hand of the priests the Levites, whom Dawud had distributed in the House of YAHWEH, to offer the burnt offerings of YAHWEH, as it is written in the Taurat6 of Musa7, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of Dawud. 19He set the porters at the gates of the House of YAHWEH, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in. 20He took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the House of YAHWEH: and they came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword.
- 23:1 Ismail, derived from the Hebrew Ishmael which means “God hears.” ↩︎
- 23:3 God, English translation of elohim. Elohim (Hebrew) is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 23:3 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 23:3 Dawud, this Arabic name is derived from David (Hebrew) and means “Beloved.” ↩︎
- 23:4 Levites, the descendants of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), from whose family line came all the priests who served in the Holy House of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. ↩︎
- 23:18 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 23:18 Musa, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Moses meaning “to pull out” or “draw out” (of water); referring to the biblical story where he was rescued from the Nile River by Firaun’s daughter. ↩︎