2 Kings 11:17-18

11:17 Jehoiada then drew up a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, stipulating that they should be loyal to the Lord. ¹  11:18 All the people of the land went and demolished ²  the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols ³  to bits. ⁴  They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altar. Jehoiada the priest ⁵  then placed guards at the Lord’s temple.

¹ tn Heb “and Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and [between] the king and [between] the people, to become a people for the Lord, and between the king and [between] the people.” The final words of the verse (“and between the king and [between] the people”) are probably accidentally repeated from earlier in the verse. They do not appear in the parallel account in 2 Chr 23:16. If retained, they probably point to an agreement governing how the king and people should relate to one another.

² tn Or “tore down.”

³ tn Or “images.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew construction translated “smashed…to bits” is emphatic. The adverbial infinitive absolute (הֵיטֵב [hetev], “well”) accompanying the Piel form of the verb שָׁבַר (shavar), “break,” suggests thorough demolition.

⁵ tn Heb “the priest.” Jehoiada’s name is added for clarification.