2 Kings 11:16

2Ki 11:16 And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there was she slain.

Ver. 16. The way by the which the horses came.] So that she was trampled, haply, by the horses, as her mother had been; howsoever, she was slain among the stables and dunghills of the king’s house. Josephus saith that she was carried down to the town ditch, and there despatched.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 11:16. They laid hands on her — The Hebrew, ישׁמו לה ידים, Jashimu lah jadaim, may be properly rendered, Then they gave her room, or left her a free passage to depart out of the temple. Thus Houbigant, after the Chaldee. And she went by the way, &c. — By the great public road, by which horses and chariots went to the palace. And there was she slain —

In an ignominious place and manner, as her mother Jezebel had been.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:16 Athaliah’s death at the gate where horses enter the palace grounds is reminiscent of her mother Jezebel’s death under the hooves of Jehu’s horses (9:33).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. By the way - which the horses came] They probably brought her out near the king's stables. It has been supposed, from Eze 46:1-2, that the east gate of the inner court was that by which the king entered on the Sabbath day, whereas on all other days he entered by the south gate. And there was another gate, called the horse gate, in the wall of the city, (Jer 31:40,) for the king's horses to go out at from the stables at Millo, which is therefore called, 2Ch 23:15, the horse gate toward the king's house.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) They laid hands on her.—So the LXX. and Vulg. The Hebrew phrase means: and they made room for her on both sides—i.e., the crowd fell back, and a lane was formed for her exit (so the Targum and Rashi).

She went . . . king’s house.—She entered the palace by way of the entry of the horses. Athaliah was conducted to the royal stables which adjoined the palace, and there put to death.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. And they laid hands on her] R.V. So they made way for her. The rendering of the A.V. agrees with the LXX. and the Vulgate. But the verb here used is not that employed for such an act as the arrest here described would be. It is better therefore to adopt the translation of the Targum followed by Jewish and many modern commentators, ‘They gave room to her on both hands’. Literally the words mean, ‘they arranged for her two sides’, thus making a space between which she could walk.

by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house] R.V. by the way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house. This is not to be confounded with the ‘horse gate’ of Jerusalem, spoken of Neh_3:28. That was a gate of the city, not of the king’s palace. The way here spoken of was a private road to the king’s house.

there was she slain] No doubt according to the orders of Jehoiada.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people,.... Renewed the covenant between the Lord on the one part, and the king and the people on the other; assuring them, that as God had declared that he would be their God, he would yet be their God to bless and protect them, they continuing in obedience to him; and obliging them to promise that they would serve the Lord their God, and him only, and root out all idolatry from the land, and restore, and continue in, the pure worship of God:

between the king also and the people; he promising, on his part, that he would govern them according to the law of God, and protect them in their rights and properties, privileges and liberties; and they, on their part, that they would honour and obey him, and be his faithful subjects. In Ch2 23:16 Jehoiada is said to make this covenant between him, &c. which may be understood of the Lord; or if of himself, the meaning is, that it was made between him, the king and people, and the Lord.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And they laid hands on her - Most modern critics render - “and they gave her space,” i. e., they cleared a way for her, and allowed her to walk out of the temple not only unharmed but untonched.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thrust. Hebrew, "and she went by the way by which the horses enter the king’s house. When she was come within the horse-gate of the palace, they killed her there," 2 Paralipomenon xxiii. 15. Such was the ignominious end of this true daughter of Jezabel! (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They laid hands on her, or, they gave her space or room, to wit, to go out of the court of the temple, and did not keep her within it, as they could have done. Or, they appointed bands for her; they ordered two bands of the Levites to follow her, and kill her.

By the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house; by the great and public road in which horses and chariots went to the palace.

There was she slain; in an ignominious place and manner, as her mother Jezebel had been.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. The way by the which the horses came into the king’s house — The Chronicles calls the place “the entering of the horse gate, by the king’s house.” Some have inclined to identify this with “the horse gate” of Neh_3:28, and Jer_31:40. Its location is unknown, but seems to have been somewhere near the palace. Perhaps the design of slaying her at the entrance to the royal stables was, that, like her mother Jezebel, she might be also trampled under foot by horses. Compare 2Ki_9:33.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they laid hands on her. So the LXX (ejpeqhkan aujth ceirav), the Vulgate, Luther, and others; but most moderns understand that they formed in two lines, one on either side of her, and so let her pass out of the temple and proceed towards the palace untouched the divinity that hedged a queen preventing them from molesting her until the time came for her execution (see the Revised Version). And she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king"s house. Josephus makes Athaliah pass out of the temple by the east gate, and descend into the Kedron valley. He says she was put to death "at the gate of the king"s mules," but does not mark the locality. The gate intended can scarcely be the "horse gate" of Neh_3:28, which was in the eastern wall, and north of the temple. It was probably a gate on the western side of the Tyropoeon valley, giving entrance to the stables of the palace. (comp. 2Ch_23:15, and see below, ver. 20) And there was she slain; "with the sword" (ver. 20). A single blow from one of the guardsmen probably sufficed.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They made a place for her. A place, aisances, in O.F.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.