Joash Repairs the Temple
1 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba. 2 Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all of the days that Jehoiada the priest was alive. 3 Jehoiada took for himself two wives, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
Faithless Priests
4 After this, Joash intended to restore the temple of the Lord. 5 He gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year. See that you expedite this matter.”
However the Levites did not do it right away. 6 The king called for Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel, from Judah and Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?” 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, broke into the temple of the Lord and gave all the dedicated things of the Lord’s temple to the Baals.
Joash Orders Repair of the Temple
8 So at the king’s command, they made a chest and set it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the Lord, the tax that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness.
10 All the leaders and all the people rejoiced and brought it in and cast it into the chest until they had filled it. 11 Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the Levites, and when they saw the the abundance of money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest and took it and carried it back to its place. They did this day after day and gathered money in abundance. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also those who worked iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.
13 So the workmen toiled, and the repairs were made at their hands. They set up the house of God as it was designed and fortified it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels with which to minister and to offer, including spoons and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.
Jehoiada’s Death and Burial
15 But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died. 16 They buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada, the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 They abandoned the house of God, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, and for their guilt, wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord, who testified against them, but they would not listen.
20 The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commandments so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.’ ”
21 The people conspired against Zechariah, and they stoned him at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. 22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “May the Lord see this and repay it.”
Joash Slain by Zabad and Jehozabad
23 At the end of the year, the army of the Syria, came up against Joash, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among them and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus. 24 The army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, but the Lord delivered a very great army into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
25 When they had withdrawn, leaving Joash badly wounded, 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. They buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
26 These are the ones who conspired against Joash: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 27 Now concerning his sons, the many prophesies pertaining to him, and the accounting of the rebuilding of the house of the God, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.