2 Chronicles 23

¹In the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds—Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri—into a covenant with him.

²They went around in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s house. Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David.

⁴This is the thing that you must do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds.

⁵A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of the LORD’s house.

⁶But let no one come into the LORD’s house except the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow the LORD’s instructions.

⁷The Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. They each took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest didn’t dismiss the shift.

⁹Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, bucklers, and shields that had been king David’s, which were in God’s house.