Joash’s Reign
1Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. He reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah, who was from Beer Sheba.
2Joash did what the
3Jehoiada chose two wives for him who gave him sons and daughters.
4Joash was determined to repair the
5He assembled the priests and Levites and ordered them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the annual quota of silver from all Israel for repairs on the temple of your God. Be quick about it!” But the Levites delayed.
6So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, “Why have you not made the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the
7(Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy items of the
8The king ordered a chest to be made and placed outside the gate of the
9An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the
10All the officials and all the people gladly brought their silver and threw it into the chest until it was full.
11Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and the accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver.
12The king and Jehoiada gave it to the construction foremen assigned to the
13They worked hard and made the repairs. They followed the measurements specified for God’s temple and restored it.
14When they were finished, they brought the rest of the silver to the king and Jehoiada. They used it to make items for the
15Jehoiada grew old and died at the age of 130.
16He was buried in the City of David with the kings, because he had accomplished good in Israel and for God and his temple.
17After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah visited the king and declared their loyalty to him. The king listened to their advice.
18They abandoned the temple of the
19The
20God’s Spirit energized Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you violating the commands of the
21They plotted against him and by royal decree stoned him to death in the courtyard of the
22King Joash disregarded the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “May the
23At the beginning of the year the Syrian army attacked Joash and invaded Judah and Jerusalem. They wiped out all the leaders of the people and sent all the plunder they gathered to the king of Damascus.
24Even though the invading Syrian army was relatively weak, the
25When they withdrew, they left Joash badly wounded. His servants plotted against him because of what he had done to the son of Jehoiada the priest. They murdered him on his bed. Thus he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
26The conspirators were Zabad son of Shimeath (an Ammonite woman) and Jehozabad son of Shimrith (a Moabite woman).
27The list of Joash’s sons, the many prophetic oracles pertaining to him, and the account of his building project on God’s temple are included in the record of the Scroll of the Kings. His son Amaziah replaced him as king.
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