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 also was Zibiah of Beersheba.
24:2 And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days
of Jehoiada the priest.
24:3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
24:4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the
house of the LORD.
24:5 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.
24:6 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?
24:7 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.
24:8 And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at
the gate of the house of the LORD.
24:9 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.
24:10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and
cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
24:11 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.
24:12 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.
24:13 So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set
the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
24:14 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.
24:15 But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred
and thirty years old was he when he died.
24:16 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.
24:17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made
obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
24:18 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.
24:19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and
they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
24:20 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.
24:21 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.
24:22 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.
24:23 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.
24:24 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.
24:25 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.
24:26 And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath
an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
24:27 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.
