- And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber, from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hidden in the house of the Lord six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.
- And the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds with the captains and the guard and brought them to him, into the house of the Lord, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king’s son. And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you that enter in on the Sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house, and a third part shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So shall you keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all you that go forth on the Sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king. And you shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand. And he that comes within the ranks, let him be slain; and be with the king as he goes out and as he comes in.
- And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they took every man his men that were to come in on the Sabbath with them that should go out on the Sabbath and came to Jehoiada the priest. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields that were in the temple of the Lord. And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple. And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony. And they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, God save the king.
- And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people, into the temple of the Lord. And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason, treason! But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her go forth outside the ranks; and him that follows her, kill with the sword. (For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord.) And they laid hands on her, and she went by the way by which the horses came into the king’s house. And there was she slain.
- And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people; between the king also and the people. And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and broke it down. His altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord. And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet. And they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house. Seven years old was Joash when he began to reign.
- In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash began to reign, and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- And Joash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the Lord, even the money of everyone that passes the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that comes into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance, and let them repair the breaches of the house wherever any breach shall be found. But it was so that in the twenty-third year of king Joash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. Then king Joash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why do you not repair the breaches of the house? Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.
- But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord. And they gave the money, being counted, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord. And they paid it out to the carpenters and builders that worked upon the house of the Lord, and to masons and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.
- Nevertheless, there were not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, but they gave that to the workmen, and repaired with it the house of the Lord. Moreover, they reckoned not with the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen, for they dealt faithfully. The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the Lord; it was the priests’.
- Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. And Joash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah — his fathers, kings of Judah — had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went away from Jerusalem.
- And 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? And his servants arose and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash in the house of Millo, which goes down to Silla; for Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
- In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; he departed not from them. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, all their days.
- And Jehoahaz implored the Lord, and the Lord listened unto him, for he saw the oppression of Israel because the king of Syria oppressed them. And the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelled in their tents as before. Nevertheless, they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam who made Israel sin, but walked therein, and there remained the grove also in Samaria. Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and had made them like the dust by threshing. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoash his son reigned in his stead.
- In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but he walked therein. And the rest of the acts of Jehoash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. And Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
- Now Elisha was fallen sick (of his sickness whereof he died). And Jehoash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek until you have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote three times and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have smitten five or six times, then you would have smitten Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall smite Syria but three times.
- And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band of men, and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha. And when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet.
- But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet. So Hazael king of Syria died, and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Jehoash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.
Chapter 4