2 Chronicles 24

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.