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.
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