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 Beer-sheba.
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 convened the priests and the Levites, and said to
them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel
money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and
see that ye hasten the matter. But the Levites hastened [it]
not.
24:6 And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to
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 they bestowed 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 the time the chest was
brought to 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 its place again. Thus they did day
by day, and collected 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 its state, and
strengthened it.
24:14 And when they had finished [it], they brought the rest of
the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which were made
vessels for the house of the LORD, [even] vessels to minister,
and to offer [with], 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 grew old, and was full of days when he died;
a 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 towards God, and
towards 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 to
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 to 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, who stood above the people, and said to
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
army 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 to 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 had 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 sepulchers 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.
|