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¹When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

²Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, secretly rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from among the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. So he was hidden from Athaliah and was not killed.

³Joash was in hiding with her in the LORD’s temple six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards. He had them come to him in the LORD’s temple, where he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son

⁵and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to provide protection for the king’s palace.

⁶A third are to be at the Foundation Gate and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns providing protection for the palace.

⁷“Your two divisions that go off duty on the Sabbath are to provide the king protection at the LORD’s temple.

⁸Completely surround the king with weapons in hand. Anyone who approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king in all his daily tasks.”

⁹So the commanders of hundreds did everything the priest Jehoiada commanded. They each brought their men — those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty — and came to the priest Jehoiada.

¹⁰The priest gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears and shields that were in the LORD’s temple.

¹¹Then the guards stood with their weapons in hand surrounding the king — from the right side of the temple to the left side, by the altar and by the temple.

¹²Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and cried, “Long live the king!”

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise from the guard and the crowd, she went out to the people at the LORD’s temple.

¹⁴She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵Then the priest Jehoiada ordered the commanders of hundreds in charge of the army, “Take her out between the ranks, and put to death by the sword anyone who follows her,” for the priest had said, “She is not to be put to death in the LORD’s temple.”

¹⁶So they arrested her, and she went through the horse entrance to the king’s palace, where she was put to death.

¹⁷Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people that they would be the LORD’s people and another covenant between the king and the people.

¹⁸So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altars and images to pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars. Then Jehoiada the priest appointed guards for the LORD’s temple.

¹⁹He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the LORD’s temple. They entered the king’s palace by way of the guards’ gate. Then Joash sat on the throne of the kings.

²⁰All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword in the king’s palace.

²¹Joash was seven years old when he became king.

¹In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba.

²Throughout the time the priest Jehoiada instructed him, Joash did what was right in the LORD’s sight.

³Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

⁴Then Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated silver brought to the LORD’s temple, census silver, silver from vows, and all silver voluntarily given for the LORD’s temple —

⁵each priest is to take it from his assessor and repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”

⁶But by the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the temple.

⁷So King Joash called the priest Jehoiada and the other priests and asked, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any silver from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.”

⁸So the priests agreed that they would receive no silver from the people and would not be the ones to repair the temple’s damage.

⁹Then the priest Jehoiada took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the LORD’s temple; the priests who guarded the threshold put into the chest all the silver that was brought to the LORD’s temple.

¹⁰Whenever they saw there was a large amount of silver in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest would go bag up and tally the silver found in the LORD’s temple.

¹¹Then they would give the weighed silver to those doing the work — those who oversaw the LORD’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the LORD’s temple — the carpenters, the builders,

¹²the masons, and the stonecutters — and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the LORD’s temple and for all expenses for temple repairs.

¹³However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver were made for the LORD’s temple from the contributions brought to the LORD’s temple.

¹⁴Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the LORD’s temple with it.

¹⁵No accounting was required from the men who received the silver to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity.

¹⁶The silver from the guilt offering and the sin offering was not brought to the LORD’s temple since it belonged to the priests.

¹⁷At that time King Hazael of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he planned to attack Jerusalem.

¹⁸So King Joash of Judah took all the items consecrated by himself and by his ancestors — Judah’s kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah — as well as all the gold found in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and in the king’s palace, and he sent them to King Hazael of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

¹⁹The rest of the events of Joash’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

²⁰Joash’s servants conspired against him and attacked him at Beth-millo on the road that goes down to Silla.

²¹It was his servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer who attacked him. He died and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Amaziah became king in his place.

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

²He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

³So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to King Hazael of Aram and to his son Ben-hadad during their reigns.

⁴Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD’s favor, and the LORD heard him, for he saw the oppression the king of Aram inflicted on Israel.

⁵Therefore, the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped from the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel returned to their former way of life,

⁶but they didn’t turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. Jehoahaz continued them, and the Asherah pole also remained standing in Samaria.

⁷Jehoahaz did not have an army left, except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them, making them like dust at threshing.

⁸The rest of the events of Jehoahaz’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

⁹Jehoahaz rested with his fathers, and he was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash became king in his place.

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

¹¹He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he continued them.

¹²The rest of the events of Jehoash’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the power he had to wage war against Judah’s King Amaziah, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

¹³Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴When Elisha became sick with the illness from which he died, King Jehoash of Israel went down and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵Elisha responded, “Get a bow and arrows.” So he got a bow and arrows.

¹⁶Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Grasp the bow.” So the king grasped it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷Elisha said, “Open the east window.” So he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. Then Elisha said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, yes, the arrow of victory over Aram. You are to strike down the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.”

¹⁸Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped.

¹⁹The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to them, but now you will strike down Aram only three times.”

²⁰Then Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to come into the land in the spring of the year.

²¹Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a raiding party, so they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. When he touched Elisha’s bones, the man revived and stood up!

²²King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz,

²³but the LORD was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them. Even now he has not banished them from his presence.

²⁴King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Ben-hadad became king in his place.

²⁵Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in war from Jehoash’s father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times and recovered the cities of Israel.