Then, in the seventh year, Joiada was emboldened to act. He took some of the captains into his confidence, Azarias son of Jeroham, Ismahel son of Johanan, Azarias son of Obed, Maasias son of Adaia and Elisaphat son of Zechri;

and these went round the whole of Juda, mustering the Levites and the clan chiefs in each city and summoning them to Jerusalem.

There, in the Lord’s own house, they all engaged their loyalty to the king; Here, said Joiada, is the heir to the throne; we must make him king, in pursuance of the Lord’s will for the posterity of David.

And now, here is your task.

Those of you, priests, Levites and door-keepers, whose turn it is to mount guard this week, will be keeping watch, a third of them over the gates, a third over the royal palace, and a third at the Foundation-stone Gate. All the rest are to be in the temple courts,

none entering the Lord’s house itself, except those who have kept themselves free of defilement for that end, priests and Levites who are their ministers, but all alike attentive to the Lord’s command.

The king must have a bodyguard of Levites, all fully armed, ready to slay anyone else who tries to enter the temple, attending the king closely wherever he goes.

All the commands which the high priest Joiada gave them, the Levites, and the rest of Juda with them, faithfully carried out; mustered their men, alike those who mounted guard and those who were relieved of duty that week, since the high priest would not let the companies who had finished go home.

Joiada supplied the captains with spears, shields and bucklers, that king David had put up as offerings in the Lord’s house;

and from right to left of the temple, facing the altar and the temple itself, he drew up the whole array of his supporters, that were armed with daggers, to protect the king.

Then they brought the young prince out, and gave him the crown and the pledge that went with it, a copy of the law to be held in his hand, and so they made him king. The high priest Joiada, with his sons, anointed him and prayed over him, and cried out, Long live the king!

Meanwhile, the noise of all this stir and shouting reached the ears of Athalia, and she made her way into the temple, where the crowd was gathered,

to find the king standing on a dais, there at the entry, with chieftains and bodyguard about him, while all the folk rejoiced, blowing trumpets and playing on instruments of many kinds, and shouting their praises. Well might she rend her clothes, and cry out, Treason, treason!

Thereupon Joiada came out, and bade the captains and the commanders of the army lead her away beyond the temple precincts, and there dispatch her; She must not be slain in the Lord’s house, the priest told them.

So they caught her by the neck, and as she passed along the horse-way that leads to the palace, she was slain.

After this, Joiada would have a covenant made, that bound himself and the people and the new king to be the Lord’s own people.

And the whole populace went into Baal’s temple and destroyed it, breaking down its altars and its images, and killing Mathan, that was Baal’s priest, there before the altar.

Then Joiada set up officers to look after the Lord’s temple; but under the direction of those priests and Levites to whom David had assigned their tasks there, in offering burnt-sacrifice to the Lord as Moses bade them, and singing praise after David’s own fashion.

Porters, too, he placed at all the temple gates, that should forbid entry to all who were in any way defiled.

Then, with the captains and the men of renown, with the nobles and all the common folk of the land, he escorted the king from the Lord’s house by way of the upper gate into the palace, and there they set him on his royal throne.

All through the land were great rejoicings, and the city had rest, now that Athalia lay dead.✻