1. WHEN ATHALIAH the mother of [King] Ahaziah [of Judah] saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal descendants.
2. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, [half] sister of Ahaziah, stole Joash son of Ahaziah from among the king's sons, who were to be slain, even him and his nurse, and hid them from Athaliah in an inner storeroom for beds; so he was not slain.
3. Joash was with his nurse hidden in the house of the Lord for six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.
4. In the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest, Jehosheba's husband] sent for the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guards or runners and brought them to him to the house of the Lord and made a covenant with them and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord and showed them the king's [hidden] son.