2 Chronicles 24

Revised Geneva Translation

24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.

² And Joash did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, all the days of Jehoiada the Priest.

³ And Jehoiada took two wives for himself. And he begat sons and daughters.

⁴ And afterward it came into Joash’s mind to renew the House of the LORD.

⁵ And he assembled the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to repair the House of your God, from year to year. And do so quickly!” But the Levites were not quick.

⁶ Therefore, the king called Jehoiada the High Priest and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the Congregation of Israel, for the Tabernacle of the Testimony?

⁷ “For wicked Athaliah and her children broke up the House of God. And they bestowed all the things that were dedicated for the House of the LORD upon Baal!”

⁸ Therefore, the king commanded. And they made a chest and set it at the gate of the House of the LORD, outside.

⁹ And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring the tax of Moses the servant of God to the LORD, as 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 finished.

¹¹ And when it was time, they brought the chest to the king’s officer by the hand of the Levites. And when they saw that there was much silver, then the king’s scribe (and one appointed by the High Priest) came and emptied the chest and took it and carried it back to its place. Thus they did, day by day, and gathered silver in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the labor and work in the House of the LORD and hired masons and carpenters to repair the House of the LORD. They also hired workers of iron and bronze, to repair the House of the LORD.

¹³ So the workmen worked. And the work was finished through their hands. And they restored the House of God to its state and strengthened it.

¹⁴ And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada. And from it he made vessels for the House of the LORD, vessels for ministry, mortars and cups, 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 grew old and was full of days and died. He was one hundred thirty years old when he died.

¹⁶ And they buried him with the kings, in the City of David, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His House.

¹⁷ And after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and did reverence to the king. And the king listened to 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, because of this their trespass.

¹⁹ And God sent Prophets among them, to bring them back to the LORD. And they testified against them. But they would not hear.

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 says God: ‘Why do you transgress the Commandments of the LORD? Surely you shall not prosper! Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has also forsaken you!”

²¹ Then 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 did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said, “The LORD look upon it and require it!”

²³ And when the year was out, the army of Aram came up against him. And they came against 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 Though the army of Aram came with a small company of men, the LORD still delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. And they gave sentence against Joash.

²⁵ And when they had departed from him (for they left him with great disease), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the children of Jehoiada the Priest and killed him on his bed. And he died. And they buried him in the City of David. But they did not bury him in the sepulchers of the kings.

²⁶ And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad, the son of Shimrath (an Ammonitess) and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith (a Moabitess).

²⁷ As for his sons, and the sum of the tax gathered by him, and the foundation 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 place.