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¹When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah [king of Judah] saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.

²But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram [of Judah and half] sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and abducted him from among the king's sons who were to be killed, and hid him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.

³Joash was hidden with his nurse in the house (temple) of the LORD for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴Now in the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest, Jehosheba's husband] sent for the captains of hundreds of the Carites and of the guard and brought them to him to the house of the LORD. Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and showed them the king's [hidden] son.

⁵He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you who come in [reporting for duty] on the Sabbath shall keep watch over the king's house

⁶(a third shall also be at the [city] gate Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards); so you shall keep watch over the palace [from three posts] for defense.

⁷Two units of you, all those who go out [off duty] on the Sabbath, shall also keep watch over the house (temple) of the LORD for [the protection of] the king.

⁸You shall surround the [young] king, each man with weapons in his hand; and whoever comes through the ranks shall be put to death. You are to be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in."

⁹The captains of hundreds acted in accordance with everything that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and each of them took his men who were to come in (on duty) on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out (off duty) on the Sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

¹⁰The priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the LORD.

¹¹And the guards stood, each man with weapons in his hand, from the right side to the left side of the temple area, by the altar [in the courtyard] and by the temple [proper], all around the king.

¹²Then Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the Testimony [a copy of the Mosaic Law]; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, "Long live the king!"

¹³When Athaliah heard the sound of the guards and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people.

¹⁴When she looked, behold, there stood the [young] king [on the platform] by the pillar, as was customary [on such occasions], and the captains and the trumpeters were beside the king; and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing the trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

¹⁵Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds appointed over the army and said to them, "Take her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her put to death with the sword." For the priest had said, "Let her not be put to death in the house (temple) of the LORD."

¹⁶So they seized her, and she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house (palace), and she was put to death there.

¹⁷Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people, that they would be the Lord's people—also between the king and the people [to be his subjects].

¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down. They utterly smashed his altar and his images to pieces, and they put Mattan the priest of Baal to death in front of the altars. And [Jehoiada] the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

¹⁹Then he took the captains of hundreds, the Carites (royal bodyguards), the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought the [young] king down from the house of the LORD, and came by way of the guards' gate to the king's house. And [little] Joash sat on the throne of the kings.

²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city [of Jerusalem] was quiet. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king's house.

²¹Jehoash (Joash) was seven years old when he became king.

¹In the seventh year of Jehu [king of Israel], Jehoash became king [over Judah], and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

²Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

³Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and burning incense [to the LORD] on the high places [rather than at the temple].

⁴Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money for the dedicated things which is brought into the house of the LORD, in current money, both the money of each man's assessment [for all those bound by vows], and all the money which any man's heart prompts him to bring into the house (temple) of the LORD,

⁵let the priests receive such contributions for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair any breach in the house of the Lord, wherever a breach is found."

⁶But it came about in the twenty-third year of [the reign of] King Jehoash, that the priests still had not repaired the damages of the Lord's house.

⁷Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest and the [other] priests and said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage of the house (temple)? Now then, do not take any more money from your acquaintances, but turn it all over for [the repair of] the damages of the house." [You are no longer responsible for this work. I will take it into my own hands.]

⁸So the priests agreed that they would receive no [more] money from the people, nor [be responsible to] repair the damages of the house.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the house of the LORD; and the priests who guarded the door put in the chest all the money that was brought [by the people] into the house of the LORD.

¹⁰And whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up and tied it in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD.

¹¹Then they gave the money, which was weighed out into the hands of those who were doing the work, who had the oversight of the house of the LORD; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house (temple) of the LORD,

¹²and to the masons and stonecutters, and to buy timber and hewn (cut) stone to repair any breach in the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for repairing the house.

¹³However, there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any gold containers or [other] silver containers, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD;

¹⁴but they gave that to those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD.

¹⁵Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they placed the money to be paid to those who did the work, for they acted in good faith.

¹⁶Money from the guilt offerings and money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD [for repairs]; it was for the priests.

¹⁷Then Hazael king of Aram (Syria) went up, fought against Gath [in Philistia], and captured it. And Hazael resolved to go up to Jerusalem.

¹⁸So Jehoash the king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house (temple) of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram; and Hazael departed from Jerusalem.

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Joash and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁰His servants arose and formed a conspiracy [against him] and struck down Joash [in revenge] at the house of Millo, [on the way] that goes down to Silla.

²¹For Jozacar (Jozachar) the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and he died; and they buried Joash with his fathers in the City of David. Amaziah his son became king in his place.

¹In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.

²He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the [idolatrous] sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he did not turn from them.

³So the anger of the LORD was kindled and burned against Israel, and He handed them over time and again to Hazael the king of Aram (Syria), and of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.

⁴But Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them.

⁵Then the LORD gave Israel a savior [to rescue them and give them peace], so that they escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons (descendants) of Israel lived in their tents as before.

⁶Yet they did not turn from the [idolatrous] sins of the [royal] house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin; but walked in them. And the Asherah [set up by Ahab] also remained standing in Samaria [Israel's capital].

⁷For he left to Jehoahaz [king of Israel] an army of no more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram (Ben-hadad) had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled.

⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, everything that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁹Jehoahaz slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him in Samaria; Joash his son became king in his place.

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash (Joash) the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.

¹¹He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not turn away from all the [idolatrous] sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; but he walked in them.

¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash, everything 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?

¹³Joash slept with his fathers [in death], and Jeroboam [II] sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴Now Elisha had become sick with the illness by which he would die. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!"

¹⁵And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows.

¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." And he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.

¹⁷And he said, "Open the window to the east," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" And he shot. And Elisha said, "The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram (Syria); for you will strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have destroyed them."

¹⁸Then he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," and he struck it three times and stopped.

¹⁹So the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times."

²⁰Elisha died, and they buried him. Now marauding bands of Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year.

²¹And it happened that as a man was being buried [on an open bier], they saw a marauding band [coming]; and they threw the man into Elisha's grave. But when the [body of the] man [was being let down and] touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.

²²Hazael the king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned toward them for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He was unwilling to destroy them, and did not cast them from His presence until now.

²⁴Hazael king of Aram (Syria) died; Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

²⁵Then Jehoash (Joash) the son of Jehoahaz recovered from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash defeated Ben-hadad and recovered the cities of Israel.