2 Kings 11:1

Athaliah is Eliminated

11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line.

2 Kings 11:3-4

11:3 He hid out with his nurse in the Lord’s temple for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians and the royal bodyguard. He met with them in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.

2 Kings 11:21

Joash’s Reign over Judah

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


tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum) “arise,” is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125.

tn Heb “and he was with her [in] the house of the Lord hiding.”

tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”

sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.

tn Heb “the runners.”

tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”

tn Or “covenant.”

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.

tn Jehoash is an alternate name for Joash (see 11:2).