II Chronicles 24

1. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. And he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.

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

3. And Jehoiada took two wives for himself, and he begat sons and daughters.

4. And it came to pass after this, that it had been in the mind of Joash to repair the house of the LORD.

5. And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather silver from all Israel to repair the house of your God from year to year. And see that you hasten the matter.” But the Levites did not hasten it.

6. And the king called for Jehoiada and said to him, “Why have you not made the Levites bring in the collection out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, according to Moses, the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?

7. For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, have broken up the house of God. And all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD they have given to Baalim.”

8. And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD.

9. And they gave a call in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

10. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and threw into the chests until it was finished.

11. And it came to pass that at the time the chest was brought into the king’s office by the Levites, and when they saw that the silver was abundant, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and carried it to its place again. So they did day by day and gathered a great amount of silver.

12. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD. And they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also artisans in iron and bronze, to mend the house of the LORD.

13. And the workmen worked, and the work was completed by them, and they set the house of God in its proper state and made it strong.

14. Now when they had finished, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada and it was made into vessels for the house of the LORD, vessels to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they continually offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada.

15. So Jehoiada became old and was full of days when he died. He was a hundred and thirty years old when he died.

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

17. And after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king hearkened to them.

18. And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

19. Yet He sent prophets to them to bring them again to the LORD. And they testified against them, but they would not hearken.

20. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot be blessed? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has also forsaken you.’ ”

21. And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

22. And Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And as he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and call you to account.”

23. And it came to pass at the end of the year the army of Syria came up against him. And they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil to the king of Damascus,

24. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, but the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand because they had forsaken the God of their fathers. And they executed judgment against Joash.

25. And when they had departed from him (for they left him severely wounded), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest and killed him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

26. And these are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath of Ammon and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

27. And as to his sons, and the multitude of burdens against him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.