2 Chronicles 23

Bishops(i) 1 And in the seuenth yere Iehoiada beyng bolde, toke the captaynes of hundredes, Azariah the sonne of Iehoram, & Ismael the sonne of Iehohanan, Azariahu the sonne of Obed, Maasiahu the sonne of Adaiahu, & Elisaphat the sonne of Zichri, & made a bonde with them 2 And they went about in Iuda, and gathered the Leuites out of all the cities of Iuda, & the auncient fathers of Israel, and they came to Hierusalem 3 And all the congregation made a bonde with the king in the house of God, and he sayd vnto them: Beholde, the kinges sonne must raigne, as the Lorde hath sayde of the children of Dauid 4 This is it therfore that ye shal do: The thirde part of you shall on the Sabbath come to the priestes, Leuites, & kepers of the porches 5 And another thirde part shalbe by the kinges house, and another thirde part shalbe at the gate of the foundation: and al the people shalbe in the courtes of the house of the Lorde 6 But there shal none come into the house of the Lorde, saue the priestes and they that minister vnto the Leuites, they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shal kepe the watch of the Lord 7 And the Leuites shall compasse the king round about, and euery man shall haue his weapon in his hand: and what other man soeuer doth come into the house [of the Lorde] he shalbe slayne: and let them be with the king when he commeth in and when he goeth out 8 And the Leuites and all Iuda dyd according to al thinges that Iehoiada the priest had commaunded, and toke euery man his men that came in on the Sabbath, with them that went out on the Sabbath day: neither did Iehoiada the priest let the companies depart 9 And Iehoiada the priest deliuered to the captaynes of hundredes, speares, shieldes, and bucklers, that had parteyned to king Dauid, and were in the house of God 10 And he set all the people (euery man hauing his weapon in his hande) from the right side of the temple to the lift side of the temple, along by the aulter and the temple, rounde about the king 11 And they brought out the kinges sonne, and put vpon him the crowne, and the testimonie, and made him king: and Iehoiada and his sonnes annoynted him, and sayde, God saue the king 12 When Athaliahu hearde the noyse of the people running, and praysing the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lorde 13 And she loked, and beholde the king stoode in his place at the entring in, and the lordes and the trumpettes were by the king, and all the people of the lande reioysed, blowing with trumpets, and the singers were with instrumentes of musicke, and such as could sing prayse: But Athaliahu rent her clothes, and sayde, Treason, treason 14 And Iehoiada the priest went out to the captaynes of hundredes that were gouernours of the hoast, and sayde vnto them, Haue her foorth of the ranges: & whoso foloweth her, let him be slayne with the sword. For the priest sayd, that they should not slay her in the house of the Lorde 15 And they layde handes on her till she was come to the entring of the horse gate beside the kinges house, and there they slue her 16 And Iehoiada made a bond betweene him and al the people and the king, that they shoulde be the Lordes people 17 And all the people went to the house of Baal, and destroyed it, and brake his aulters and his images, and slue Mathan the priest of Baal before the aulters 18 And Iehoiada put the officers for the house of the Lord, vnder the hand of the priestes and Leuites, as Dauid had distributed them in the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offeringes vnto the Lord, as it is written in the lawe of Moyses, with reioysing and singing, as it was ordeyned by Dauid 19 And he set porters by the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was vncleane in any thing shoulde enter in 20 And he toke the captaynes of hundredes, and all the nobles, and the gouernours of the people, and al the folke of the lande, and caused the king to come downe out of the house of the Lorde, and they came through the hye gate into the kinges house, & set the king vpon the seate of the kingdome 21 And all the people of the land reioysed, and the citie was in tranquilitie after that they had slayne Athaliahu with the sworde