2 Chronicles 24

1Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah from Beer-sheba.

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

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

4After this, it was in the heart of Joash to restore the house of Yahweh.

5So he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect silver from all Israel to repair the house of your God year by year, and you must act quickly in this matter.” But the Levites did not act quickly.

6Then the king called Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and from Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?”

7For Athaliah, that wicked woman, and her sons had broken into the house of God and had also made all the holy things of the house of Yahweh for the Baals.

8Then the king commanded, and they made one chest and placed it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh.

9And they made a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the levy of Moses the servant of God for Israel in the wilderness.

10Then all the officials and all the people rejoiced, and they brought their contributions and threw them into the chest until it was full.

11And whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s oversight, and when they saw that the money was abundant, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would come and empty the chest, then carry it and return it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and they gathered money in abundance.

12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those doing the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and they hired stonecutters and craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also craftsmen in iron and bronze to strengthen the house of Yahweh.

13So the workmen labored, and the repair work progressed by their hand; they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it.

14When they had finished, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada, and with it he made articles for the house of Yahweh, articles for ministry and for offering up, and bowls, and articles of gold and silver. And they were offering burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was one hundred and thirty years old at his death.

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

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

18And they abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.

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

20And the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: Why are you transgressing the commandments of Yahweh, so that you do not prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.”

21So they conspired against him and stoned him at the command of the king, in the court of the house of Yahweh.

22But King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had shown him, and he killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May Yahweh see and require it.”

23At the turn of the year, the army of Aram came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

24For the army of Aram came with few men, but Yahweh gave a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.

25When they departed from him—for they left him with many diseases—his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed, and he died. They buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

26And these were the men who conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite woman.

27His sons, the many oracles against him, and the founding of the house of God—behold, they are written in the Midrash of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.