And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, "Take her forth between the ranks; and him that followeth her slay with the sword" (for the priest said, "Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord").

So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house: and there was she slain.

[{276}]

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 to 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 captains over hundreds, 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 unto the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword at the king's house.

[{277}]

JOASH.
A King Who Failed to Continue in Well-Doing.

(For a while Joash was a very good king, but at last the wise priest Jehoiada, who had made him king, died. As soon as this restraint was removed Joash listened to the counsel of wild young princes, and so far forgot the debt of gratitude he owed to Jehoiada that he killed the son of the priest when he also reproved him for his evil deeds. In the latter part of his reign, disasters came thick and fast. The Syrians came down and swept Judah with fire and sword. They did not kill Joash, but they left him at the end of his long reign of forty years, a helpless sufferer from disease. Then the very servants of his household conspired against him and murdered him in his bed.)

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of the Lord. And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, "Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter." Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.