2 Chronicles 23:1-7 ▼

1 In 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.

2 They 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.

3 All 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.

4 This 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.

5 A 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.

6 But 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.

7 The 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.|