¹⁷After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came to King Joash. They bowed down to him. He listened to them. ¹⁸They turned their backs on the temple of the Lord, the God of their people. They worshiped poles that were made to honor the goddess Asherah. They also worshiped statues of other gods.

Because Judah and Jerusalem were guilty of sin, God became angry with them. ¹⁹The Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him. The prophets gave witness against the people. But they wouldn’t listen.

²⁰Then the Spirit of God came on the priest Zechariah. He was the son of Jehoiada. Zechariah stood in front of the people. He told them, “God says, ‘Why do you refuse to obey my commands? You will not have success. You have deserted me. So I have deserted you.’ ”

²¹But the people made evil plans against Zechariah. The king ordered them to kill Zechariah by throwing stones at him. They did it in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ²²King Joash didn’t remember how kind Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had been to him. So he killed Jehoiada’s son.

As Zechariah was dying he said, “May the Lord see this. May he hold you accountable.”

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