1In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zikri, into covenant with him. 2They went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of ancestral houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3All the assembly made a covenant in the house of God with the king. And he showed them the king's son. And he said to them, "Look, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the descendants of David. 4This is the thing that you shall do. A third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds. 5A third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people shall be in the courts of the LORD's house. 6But let no one come into the house of the LORD, except the priests, and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow the LORD's instructions. 7The Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. Be with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out."

8So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath; with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the shift. 9Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in God's house. 10He set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king. 11Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they said, "Long live the king."

12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD: 13and she looked, and, look, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets; the singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, "Treason. Treason." 14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword." For the priest said, "Do not kill her in the LORD's house." 15So they made way for her. She went to the entrance of the Horse Gate to the king's house; and they killed her there.

16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be the LORD's people. 17All the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of the LORD under the hand of the priests and the Levites, and he appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites, whom David had assigned in 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, according to the order of David. 19He set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in. 20He took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the Upper Gate to the king's house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword.