2 Chronicles 24

¹Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah from Beersheba.

²And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

³And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴And it happened after this that Joash set his heart to restore the house of the Lord.

⁵And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them: 'Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel silver to repair the house of the God of you all, year by year, and you all make haste in the matter.' But the Levites did not make haste.

⁶And the king called Jehoiada the chief and said to him, 'Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and from Jerusalem the levy of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the assembly of Israel for the tent of testimony?'

⁷For Athaliah, that wicked woman, her sons had broken into the house of God, and also all the holy things of the house of the Lord had been used for the Baals.

⁸And the king commanded, and they made a chest and placed it at the gate of the house of the Lord outside.

⁹And they made a proclamation in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the levy of Moses the servant of God upon Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰And all the officials and all the people rejoiced, and they brought contributions and cast them into the chest until it was full.

¹¹And whenever the chest was brought to the king's oversight by the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's secretary and the chief priest's officer would come and empty the chest, carry it and return it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and they collected money in abundance.

¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and they hired stonecutters and craftsmen to restore the house of the LORD, and also workers in iron and bronze to strengthen the house of the LORD.

¹³And the workmen did their work, and the repair went forward under their hand, and they restored the house of God to its specifications and strengthened it.

¹⁴And when they had finished, they brought the remainder of the silver before the king and Jehoiada, and they made from it vessels for the house of the Lord: vessels for the ministry and for burnt offerings, and ladles, and vessels of gold and silver. And they were offering burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death.

¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, for he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house.

¹⁷And after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed before the king; then the king listened to them.

¹⁸And they forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and the idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.

¹⁹He sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD, and they testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰The Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, 'Thus says God: Why are you transgressing the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'

²¹And they conspired against him and stoned him at the king's command in the court of the house of the LORD.

²²And King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had shown him, but killed his son. And as he was dying, he said, 'May the LORD see and avenge it!'

²³And it happened at the turn of the year that the army of Aram came up against him; they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.

²⁴For the army of Aram came with few men, yet the Lord gave into their hand a very large force, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers; and they executed judgment on Joash.

²⁵And when they departed from him, for they had left him with many wounds, his servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed; and he died and was buried in the city of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶And these are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

²⁷And his sons, and the increasing burden upon him, and the founding of the house of God — behold, they are written in the commentary on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.