1In the seventh year Jehoiada made himself strong. He made a covenant with the captains of hundreds: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.
2They went through Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
3The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them, "Look, the king's son will reign, as the LORD has said about the sons of David."
4"This is what you must do. A third of you priests and Levites who come on duty on the sabbath will be gatekeepers at the doors."
5"A third will be at the king's house, and a third at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of the house of the LORD."
6"But no one is to come into the house of the LORD except the priests and the Levites who serve there. They may go in, for they are holy. But all the people must keep the watch of the LORD."
7"The Levites are to surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone else who comes into the house is to be put to death. Stay with the king when he comes in and when he goes out."
8So the Levites and all Judah did everything that Jehoiada the priest had commanded. Each one took his men, those who were to come on duty on the sabbath and those who were to go off duty on the sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions.
9Jehoiada the priest gave the captains of hundreds the spears, the small shields and the large shields that had belonged to King David and were in the house of God.
10He stationed all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, all around the king.
11Then they brought out the king's son and put the crown on him. They gave him the testimony and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, "God save the king."
12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people in the house of the LORD.
13She looked, and there was the king standing at his pillar at the entrance. The leaders and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were glad and were blowing trumpets. The singers too were playing instruments of music and leading the songs of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, "Treason, treason."
14Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were over the army and said to them, "Take her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her is to be killed with the sword." For the priest had said, "Do not kill her in the house of the LORD."
15So they laid hands on her. When she came to the entrance of the horse gate by the king's house, they killed her there.
16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they would be the LORD's people.
17Then all the people went to the house of Baal and pulled it down. They smashed his altars and his images to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
18Jehoiada also put the care of the house of the LORD into the hands of the priests, the Levites, whom David had assigned to the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as David had ordered.
19He set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, so that no one who was unclean in any way could enter.
20He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD. They came through the high gate into the king's house and seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.
21All the people of the land were glad, and the city was quiet, after they had killed Athaliah with the sword.