So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked ¹  him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. ²  So he was hidden from Athaliah and escaped execution. ³ 

In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned ¹  the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians ²  and the royal bodyguard. ³  He met with them ⁴  in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement ⁵  with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.

He told David, ¹  ‘Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. ²  Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel.

Then she saw ¹  the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters stood beside the king and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets, and the musicians with various instruments were leading the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and yelled, “Treason! Treason!” ² 

The Lord sent a messenger ¹  and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib ²  returned home humiliated. ³  When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons ⁴  struck him down with the sword.

So the officials ¹  took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern ²  of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, ³  that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud. ⁴ 

From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens ¹  for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.

But he ¹  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ²  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ³  If that happened, ⁴  you would endanger my life ⁵  with the king!”

While under the influence ¹  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²  had confiscated ³  from the temple in Jerusalem ⁴  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ⁵ 

He has carried out his threats ¹  against us and our rulers ²  who were over ³  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!

He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ¹  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ²  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ³  men of the city were raising them.

So Jehoshabeath, ¹  the daughter of King Jehoram, ²  took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away ³  from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him.

Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’