2 Chronicles 24

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

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

³ Jehoiada provided him with two wives, and he fathered sons and daughters.

⁴ After this, Joash had it in his heart to restore the house of the LORD.

⁵ He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the towns of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God year after year; and you must hurry with this.” But the Levites did not hurry.

⁶ The king summoned Jehoiada, the chief, and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the contribution imposed 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 broke into the house of God and even used the sacred things of the house of the LORD for the Baals.”

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

⁹ They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the contribution that Moses, the servant of God, had imposed on Israel in the wilderness.

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

¹¹ Whenever the chest was brought to the king's officials by the Levites, and they saw that there was a lot of money in it, the king's secretary and the chief priest's officer would come. They would empty the chest, take it away, and return it to its place. They did this day after day, and they collected a great deal of money.

¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those overseeing the work of the service of the house of the LORD. They hired stonecutters and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, as well as workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD.

¹³ The workers did their work, and the repairs advanced under their hands. They restored the house of God according to its design and strengthened it.

¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the remaining money before the king and Jehoiada. With it they made articles for the house of the LORD: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, bowls, and articles of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings continually in the house of the LORD throughout Jehoiada's lifetime.

¹⁵ Jehoiada grew old, was full of days, and died. He was 130 years old when he died.

¹⁶ They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, for God and for his house.

¹⁷ After Jehoiada's death, the officials of Judah came and bowed before the king; then the king listened to them.

¹⁸ They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. Because of this guilt, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁹ The LORD sent prophets among them to bring them back to him. They warned them, but the people would not listen.

²⁰ The Spirit of God clothed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD? You will not prosper, because you have abandoned the LORD, and he has abandoned you.’”

²¹ They conspired against him and stoned him, at the king's command, in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.

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

²³ At the turn of the year, the army of Aram came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed all the people's officials from among them, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ The army of Aram came with only a few men, but the LORD delivered a very large army into their hands, because the people had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors. So they carried out judgment against Joash.

²⁵ When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash with many wounds. His servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him in his bed. He died, and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

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

²⁷ As for his sons, the many prophecies against him, and the restoration of the house of God, these are recorded in the commentary on the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

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