2 Kings 11:13-21

13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people;
14 when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!"
15 Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest said, "Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord."
16 So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was put to death.
17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord's people; also between the king and the people.
18 Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the Lord.
19 He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king's house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings.
20 So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king's house.
21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

2 Kings 11:13-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 11

This chapter relates how that Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, being hid and preserved, when his grandmother murdered all the seed royal, after six years was produced, 2Ki 11:1-3, when Jehoiada the priest set a sufficient guard about him, and the king's house, and anointed him king, 2Ki 11:4-12, and Athaliah his grandmother, who had reigned six years, was put to death by the order of the priest, 2Ki 10:13-16, and then a covenant was made between the Lord, and the king, and the people, and between the king and the people; and he was placed on the throne, to the satisfaction of the people, and the quiet thereof, 2Ki 10:17-21.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Ch 12.1 in Heb
  • [b]. Another spelling is [Joash]; see verse 19
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.