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Jehu and the Priests of Baal.—And Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them: Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal ; whosoever shall be wanting shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

And he said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called, and he sent into all the borders of Israel, and all the servants of Baal came: there was not one left that did not come. And they went into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end to the other. And he said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth garments for all the servants of Baal. And they brought them forth garments.

let none

And Jehu and Jonadab the son of Rechab went to the temple of Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see that there be not any with you of the servants of the Lord, but that there be the servants of Baal only. And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings: but Jehu had prepared him fourscore men without, and said to them: If any of the men escape whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him go shall answer life for life. And it came to pass, when the burnt-offering was ended, that Jehu commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and kill them ; escape. And the soldiers and captains slew them with the edge of the sword, and cast them out: and they went into the city of the temple of Baal, and brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it, and broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a jakes in its place unto this day. So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel: but yet he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan.

And the Lord said to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in My eyes, and hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in My heart, thy children shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin. In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel, from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and Ruben, and Manasses, from

Aroer, which is upon the torrent Arnon, and Galaad, and
Basan.

SECT. LXXXVIII. ATHALIA USURPS THE THRONE OF JUDA UNTIL KILLED
BY JOIADA.

B.C. 884.

XI. 1-3.

Athalia.-And Athalia the mother of Ochozias seeing that 4 Kings her son was dead, arose, and slew all the royal seed. But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, out of the bed-chamber with his nurse, and hid him from the face of Athalia, so that he was not slain. And he was with her six years hid in the house of the Lord. And Athalia reigned over the land.

And in the seventh year Joiada, being encouraged, took the 2 Par. captains of hundreds : to wit, Azarias the son of Jeroham, and XXIII, 1-21. Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat the son of Zechri, and made a covenant with them. And they went about Juda, and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

And all the multitude made a covenant with the king in the house of God: and Joiada said to them: Behold the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said, of the sons of David. And this is the thing that you shall do: A third part of you that come to the sabbath* of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the porters, shall be at the gates: and a third part at the king's house and a third at the gate that is called the Foundation: but let all the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord. And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let them only come in, because they are sanctified: and let all the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord. And let the Levites be round about the king, every man with his arms (and if any other come into the temple, let him be slain): and let them be with the king both coming in and going out.

So the Levites and all Juda did according to all that Joiada the high priest had commanded: and they took every one his men that were under him, and that came in by the course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed to succeed one another every week. And Joiada the priest gave to the captains the spears,

*i.e. to the duties of the week. KENRICK,

and the shields, and targets of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord. And he set all the people with swords in their hands from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the king. And they brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to hold in his hand, and they made him king: and Joiada the high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for him, and said: God save the king.

Death of Athalia.-Now when Athalia heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came in to the people, into the temple of the Lord. And when she saw the king standing upon the step in the entrance, and the princes, and the companies about him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and said: Treason, treason. And Joiada the high priest going out to the captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: Take her forth without the precinct of the temple, and when she is without let her be killed with the sword. For the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord. And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she was come within the horse gate of the palace, they killed her there.

And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of the Lord. And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars. And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David. He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in. And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most valiant men, and the chiefs of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and brought him through the upper gate into the king's house, and set him on the royal throne. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet but Athalia was slain with the sword.

SECT. LXXXIX. THE REIGN OF JOAS. HE REPAIRS THE TEMPLE.

XXIV. 1-25.

Joas.-Joas was seven years old when he began to reign: 2 Par. and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: the name B.C. 878. of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee. And he did that which is good before the Lord all the days of Joiada the priest. And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had sons and daughters.

After this Joas had á mind to repair the house of the Lord. And he assembled the priests and the Levites, and said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of all Israel money to repair the temple of your God from year to year, and do this with speed: but the Levites were negligent. And the king called Joiada the chief, and said to him: Why hast thou not taken care to oblige the Levites to bring in out of Juda and Jerusalem the money that was appointed by Moses the servant of the Lord for all the multitude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the testimony? For that wicked woman Athalia and her children have destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple of the Lord. And the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it by the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside. And they made a proclamation in Juda and Jerusalem, that every man should bring to the Lord the money which Moses the servant of God appointed for all Israel, in the desert. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced: and going in they contributed and cast so much into the chest of the Lord, that it was filled.

And when it was time to bring the chest before the king by the hands of the Levites (for they saw there was much money), the king's scribe and he whom the high priest had appointed went in and they poured out the money that was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its place: and thus they did from day to day, and there was gathered an immense sum of money. And the king and Joiada gave it to those who were over the works of the house of the Lord: but they hired with it stone-cutters and artificers of every kind of work to repair the house of the Lord: and such as wrought in iron and brass, to uphold what began to be falling. And the workmen were diligent, and the breach of the walls was closed up by their hands, and they set up the house of the Lord in its former state, and made it stand firm. And when they had finished all the works, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada and with it were made vessels for the temple, for the

2 Par. XXV. 1-24,

ministry, and for holocausts and bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver and holocausts were offered in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Joiada.

But Joiada grew old and was full of days, and died when he was a hundred and thirty years old. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his house.

Joas falls away.—And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda went in, and paid obeisance to the king: and he was soothed by their services and hearkened to them. And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin. And He sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified against them. The spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why transgress you the commandment of the Lord, which will not be for your good, and forsake the Lord, to make Him forsake you? And they gathered themselves together against him, and stoned him at the king's commandment in the court of the house of the Lord. And king Joas did not remember the kindness that Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son.* And when he died, he said: The Lord see, and

require it.

And when a year was come about, the army of Syria came up against him: and they came to Juda and Jerusalem, and killed all the princes of the people, and they sent all the spoils to the king to Damascus. And whereas there came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful judgments. And departing they left him in great diseases: and his servants rose up against him, for revenge of the blood of the son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him in his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

SECT. XC. THE REIGN OF AMASIAS. THE DEATH OF ELISEUS.

Amasias.-Amasias was five and twenty years old when he

B.C. 839.

Jerusalem.

began to reign, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Joadan of And he did what was good in the sight of the *Our Lord refers to this murder. Matt, xxiii. 35.

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