Chapter 24

¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba. ²Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁴It happened after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of Yahweh. ⁵He gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter. However the Levites didn’t hurry. ⁶The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony? ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh did they bestow on the Baals. ⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh. ⁹They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. ¹¹It was so, that whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹²The king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh, and also such as worked iron and brass to repair the house of Yahweh. ¹³So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands, and they set up the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. ¹⁴When they had made an end, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which were made vessels for the house of Yahweh, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada. ¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; one hundred thirty years old was he when he died. ¹⁶They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. ¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸They forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. ²⁰The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, Thus says God, Why disobey you the commandments of Yahweh, so that you can’t prosper? because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you. ²¹They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh. ²²Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, Yahweh look on it, and require it. ²³It happened at the end of the year, that the army of the Syrians 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 to the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and Yahweh delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash. ²⁵When they were departed for him (for they left him very sick), 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 didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid on him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.