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 that which was right
in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 And
Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
4 And
it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house
of the LORD.
5 And
he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto
the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your
God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.
6 And
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 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, had broken up the house of God; and
also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon
Baalim.
8 And
at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of
the house of the LORD.
9 And
they made a proclamation through Judah and 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 cast into the
chest, until they had made an end.
11 Now
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.
12 And
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 mend the house of the LORD.
13 So
the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house
of God in his state, and strengthened it.
14 And
when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the
money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof 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 all the days of Jehoiada.
15 But
Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty
years old was he 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 Now
after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to
the king. Then the king hearkened unto 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 unto the LORD; and they testified
against them: but they would not give ear.
20 And
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, Why transgress ye
the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken
the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.
21 And
they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of
the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
22 Thus
Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done
to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.
23 And
it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host 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 of them unto the king of
Damascus.
24 For
the army of the Syrians came 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 they executed judgment against Joash.
25 And
when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his
own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the
priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city
of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
26 And
these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an
Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
27 Now concerning his
sons, and the 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.
