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 of Beersheba.

2Joash did what was right in the sight of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

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

4Some time later Joash set his heart on restoring the house of Yahweh.

5He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God year by year. You are to do this quickly.” But the Levites did not do it 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 that Moses the servant of Yahweh and the assembly of Israel set for the tent of the testimony?”

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 Yahweh for the Baals.

8So at the king’s command they made a chest and set it outside, at the gate of the house of Yahweh.

9A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God had set for Israel in the wilderness.

10All the officials and all the people rejoiced, and 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 there was a large amount of money, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest, then pick it up and return it to its place. They did this day after day and collected a great deal of money.

12The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work of service on the house of Yahweh, and they hired stonecutters and craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh.

13So the workers did their work, and the repairs went forward in their hands. They restored the house of God to its proper design and made it strong.

14When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it they made articles for the house of Yahweh: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, dishes, and other articles of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died.

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

17After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them.

18They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.

19Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to Yahweh, and they warned them, but they would not listen.

20Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says: Why do you break the commands of Yahweh? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has forsaken you.”

21But they conspired against him, and at the king’s command they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh.

22King Joash did not remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, Zechariah said, “May Yahweh see this and call you to account!”

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.

24Although the army of Aram came with only a few men, Yahweh gave a very large army into their hands, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. So they carried out judgment on Joash.

25When they withdrew from him, they left him badly wounded. His servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

26Those who conspired against him were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite woman and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite woman.

27As for his sons, the many oracles against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are written in the commentary on the book of the kings. And his son Amaziah became king in his place.