2 Chroniques 24

Joash repairs the temple

¹Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah from Beersheba. ²Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁴Some time later Joash set his heart on restoring the house of the LORD. ⁵He called the priests and the Levites together and told them, “Go out to the towns of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God, year by year. Do it quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax for the tent of the testimony, which Moses the servant of the LORD and the assembly of Israel laid down?” ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had even used all the holy things of the house of the LORD for the Baals. ⁸At the king’s command they made a chest and placed it at the gate of the house of the LORD, on the outside. ⁹A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the people should bring to the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God had laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰All the officials and all the people rejoiced. They brought their money and dropped it into the chest until they had finished. ¹¹Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw that it held a large sum of money, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest, then carry it back to its place. They did this day after day and collected a great amount of money. ¹²The king and Jehoiada gave the money to those in charge of the work on the house of the LORD, and they hired stonecutters and craftsmen to restore the house of the LORD. They also hired workers in iron and bronze to mend the house of the LORD. ¹³So the workmen did their work, and the repairs went forward under their hands. They restored the house of God to its proper design and made it strong. ¹⁴When they had finished, they brought what remained of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it they made articles for the house of the LORD: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, dishes, and other articles of gold and silver. All the days of Jehoiada, burnt offerings were offered continually in the house of the LORD.

¹⁵Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died. ¹⁶He was buried among the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and for his house.

Joash turns away; Zechariah is stoned

¹⁷After Jehoiada’s death the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them. ¹⁸They forsook the house of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. Because of this guilt of theirs, wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD. The prophets warned them, but they would not listen.

²⁰Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up above the people and said to them, “God says this: ‘Why do you break the commandments of the LORD? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹But they plotted against him, and at the king’s command they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the house of the LORD. ²²King Joash did not remember the faithful love that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, and he killed his son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account!”

The end of Joash’s reign

²³At the turn of the year the army of Aram came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people from among the people, and they sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus. ²⁴Though the army of Aram came with only a few men, the LORD gave a very great army into their power, because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors. So they carried out judgment on Joash. ²⁵When the Arameans withdrew, they left him badly wounded. His officials conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died. He was buried in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.^a

²⁶These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite woman. ²⁷The account of his sons, the many oracles against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the commentary on the Book of the Kings. And his son Amaziah became king in his place.^bc