2 Kings 11:17-21

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. 11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ⁶  and the king ⁷  sat down on the royal throne. 11:20 All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah with the sword in the royal palace.

Joash’s Reign over Judah

11:21 (12:1) ⁸  Jehoash ⁹  was seven years old when he began to reign.

[11:17]  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.

[11:18]  ² tn Or “tore down.”

[11:18]  ³ tn Or “images.”

[11:18]  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.

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the priest.” Jehoiada’s name is added for clarification.

[11:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

[11:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:21]  ⁸ sn Beginning with 11:21, the verse numbers through 12:21 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 11:21 ET = 12:1 HT, 12:1 ET = 12:2 HT, 12:2 ET = 12:3 HT, etc., through 12:21 ET = 12:22 HT. With 13:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[11:21]  ⁹ tn Jehoash is an alternate name for Joash (see 11:2).