2 Chronicles 24
1Joash
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.
2And Joash did that which was right
in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3And
Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
4And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.
5And 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.
6And
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?
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
the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim.
8And
at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.
9And 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.
10And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they
had made an end.
11Now 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.
12And 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.
13So the workmen wrought, and
the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
14And 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.
15But Jehoiada waxed old, and
was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.
16And 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.
17Now after
the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
18And 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.
19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them:
but they would not give ear.
20And 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.
21And they conspired against him, and
stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
22Thus 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.
23And 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.
24For
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.
25And 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.
26And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess,
and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
27Now
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.