Joash Follows Jehoiada’s Example^(A)

24 Joash was seven years old when he began his reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beer-sheba. ² Joash practiced what the Lord considered to be right during the lifetime^[a] of Jehoiada the priest, ³ who found two wives for him, so he fathered sons and daughters.

⁴ Later on, Joash decided to rebuild the Lord’s Temple, ⁵ so he assembled the priests and descendants of Levi and ordered them, “Go throughout the cities of Judah and take up a collection^[b] from all of Israel for the annual upkeep^[c] of the Temple of your God. And make sure that you act quickly.” But the descendants of Levi did not act quickly, ⁶ so the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and asked him, “Why haven’t you required the descendants of Levi to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the Lord’s servant, and the assembly of Israel for the Tent of Testimony?”

⁷ Because that wicked woman Athaliah’s family members had broken into the Temple of God and used the consecrated implements of the Lord’s Temple for service to the Baals, ⁸ the king issued an order and a chest was made and set outside the entrance gate to the Lord’s Temple. ⁹ A public notice was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in the tax that Moses the servant of the Lord had levied on Israel when they were in the wilderness. ¹⁰ So all the princes and all the people gladly brought their tax and placed it into the chest until they had completed paying the tax.^{[d] 11} Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officials by the descendants of Levi, the royal secretary and the chief priest’s designated officer would come, empty the chest, and take it back to its place. They did this day after day until they had collected a large amount of cash.^[e]

¹² Both the king and Jehoiada paid the money to those who were working to maintain the service of the Lord’s Temple, and they, in turn, hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s Temple. Iron and bronze workers also were brought in to repair the Lord’s Temple. ¹³ As a result, the workmen did their labor, and the repair work progressed steadily under their supervision,^[f] and they restored God’s Temple back to what it should be, and strengthened it, too. ¹⁴ When they had completed the work, they brought what was left of the money to the king and to Jehoiada, and it was used to cast utensils for the Lord’s Temple that were to be utilized for daily service and for burnt offerings, for incense vessels, and for both gold and silver vessels. Burnt offerings were offered on a regular basis in the Lord’s Temple throughout Jehoiada’s lifetime.

Joash Apostatizes and Kills Jehoiada’s Son

¹⁵ Eventually, Jehoiada grew old and died at the age of 130 years, after having lived a full life. ¹⁶ He was buried in the City of David among the graves of^[g] the kings, because he had accomplished many good things in Israel on behalf of God and his Temple. ¹⁷ But after Jehoiada had died, officials from Judah came, bowed down to the king, and the king listened to what they had to say. ¹⁸ They abandoned the Lord’s Temple and the God of their fathers, and they served Asherim^[h] and idols. As a result this guilt of theirs resulted in wrath coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, God^[i] sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord.

²⁰ Then Jehoiada the priest’s son Zechariah was clothed by the Spirit of God, and he stood above the people and told them, “This is what God has to say: ‘Why are you breaking the Lord’s commandments. You’ll never be successful! Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’”

²¹ But the people^[j] conspired against him, and at the direct orders of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. ²² This is how King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him: he killed his son. As he lay dying, Zechariah cried out, “May the Lord watch this and avenge.”

The Death of Joash^(B)

²³ At the end of that year, the Aramean army attacked Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed every senior official among the people, and sent all of their possessions to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ The Aramean army attacked with only a small force, but the Lord delivered a much larger army into their control because Judah^[k] had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. And so the Aramean army carried out God’s^[l] judgment on Joash. ²⁵ After the Arameans left him very sick, Joash’s^[m] own servants conspired against him because Joash^[n] had murdered Jehoiada the priest’s son, and they killed him on his sick bed. ²⁶ The conspirators included Shimeath the Ammonite’s son Zabad and Shimrith the Moabite’s son Jehozabad. ²⁷ Records concerning his sons, the various prophetic statements rebuking him, and records of the reconstruction work on God’s Temple are written in the Midrash^[o] of the Book of the Kings. Joash’s^[p] son Amaziah reigned in his place.