2 Chronicles 24

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

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

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

⁴ Some time later, Joash set his heart on restoring the temple of the LORD.

⁵ He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, 'Go out to the towns of Judah and collect the money due each year from all Israel to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.' But the Levites did not act quickly.

⁶ So 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 set by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?'

⁷ For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used its sacred objects for the Baals.

⁸ At the king's command they made a chest and placed it outside, at the gate of the temple of the LORD.

⁹ A proclamation was issued in 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.

¹⁰ All the officials and all the people gladly brought their money and dropped it into the chest until it was full.

¹¹ Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the king's officers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the chief priest would come, empty the chest, and carry it back to its place. They did this day after day and collected money in abundance.

¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work on the temple of the LORD, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the temple of the LORD, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.

¹³ The men did the work, and the repairs made good progress under their hands. They rebuilt the house of God according to its original design and reinforced it.

¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used to make articles for the temple of the LORD: utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, as well as dishes and objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the LORD.

¹⁵ Jehoiada grew old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty.

¹⁶ He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.

¹⁷ After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and then the king listened to them.

¹⁸ They abandoned the temple 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.

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

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, 'This is what God says: Why do you disobey the commands of the LORD? You will not succeed. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'

²¹ But they conspired against him, and at the king's command they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the temple of the LORD.

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

²³ At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the leaders of the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ Although the army of Aram had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered a very large army into their hands, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors. So judgment was carried out on Joash.

²⁵ When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash badly wounded. His officials conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died, and he was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

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

²⁷ The account of his sons, the many prophecies spoken against him, and the record of 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.