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And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

Now the downfall of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went unto Joram; for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him--now he was hiding in Samaria--and they brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said: 'He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.' And there was none of the house of Ahaziah that had power to hold the kingdom.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bed-chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest--for she was the sister of Ahaziah--hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall come in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the charge of the LORD.

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with those that were to go out on the sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses.

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them: 'Have her forth between the ranks; and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword'; for the priest said: 'Slay her not in the house of the LORD.'

So they made way for her; and she went to the entry of the horse gate to the king's house; and they slew her there.

And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters.

And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and unto him: 'Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?'

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon the Baalim.

And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

And when they had made an end, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels wherewith to minister, and buckets, and pans, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt-offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.

And they forsook the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.

For the army of the Arameans came with a small company of men; and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment upon Joash.

And when they were departed from him--for they left him in great diseases--his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.

But he put not their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying: 'The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.'

He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver.