2 Chronicles 24–35

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and ^ahe reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ²And Joash ^bdid that which was right in the sight of the Lord ^call the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³And Jehoiada took for him two wives; ^dand he begat sons and daughters. ⁴And it came to pass after this, that Joash ^ewas minded to repair the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all ^fIsrael money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye haste the matter. ^gHowbeit the Levites hastened it not. ⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of ^hMoses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the ⁱtabernacle of Witness? ⁷For ^kthe sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the ^ldedicate things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim. ⁸And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it ^mwithout at the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord ⁿthe collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. ¹¹Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to ^omend the house of the Lord. ¹³So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, ^pwhereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually ^qall the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵But Jehoiada waxed old, and ^rwas full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in ^fIsrael, both towards God, and towards his house. ¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. ¹⁸And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served ^sgroves and ^tidols: and ^uwrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. ^19xYet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they ^ytestified against them: but they would not give ear. ²⁰And the spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, ^zWhy transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? ^abecause ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. ²¹And they conspired against him, and ^bstoned him with stones at the commandment of the king ^cin the court of the house of the Lord. ²²Thus Joash the king remembered not ^dthe kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord ^elook upon it, and ^frequire it.

²³And it came to pass at the end of the year, that ^gthe host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all ^hthe princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the army of the Syrians ⁱcame with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So ^jthey executed judgment against Joash. ²⁵And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great ^kdiseases,) ^lhis own servants conspired against him for the blood of the ^msons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, ⁿbut they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. ²⁶And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and ^othe greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

XXV.Amaziah ^awas twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not ^bwith a perfect heart. ³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father. ⁴But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

⁵Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them ^cfrom twenty years old and above, and found them ^dthree hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could ^ehandle spear and shield. ⁶He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver. ⁷But there came ^fa man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. ⁸But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God ^gshall make thee fall before the enemy: for ^hGod hath power to help, and to ^gcast down. ⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this. ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. ¹¹And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and ⁱwent to the valley of salt, and smote of ^kthe children of Seir ten thousand. ¹²And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of ^lthe rock, and cast them down from the top of ^lthe rock, that they all were broken in pieces. ¹³But the soldiers of the army ^mwhich Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, ⁿfell upon the cities of Judah, from ^oSamaria even unto ^pBeth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

¹⁴Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that ^qhe brought the gods of ^kthe children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. ¹⁵Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, ^rwhich could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? ¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king’s counsel? forbear; ^swhy shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that ^tGod hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

¹⁷Then ^uAmaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face. ¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. ¹⁹Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? ²⁰But Amaziah would not hear; for ^tit came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because ^wthey sought after the gods of Edom. ²¹So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah. ²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. ²³And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of ^xJehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the ^ygate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ²⁴And ^zhe took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with ^aObed-edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

^25bAnd Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, ^cfirst and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following…