|
Chapter 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 Beersheba. |
| 2 | And Joash
did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the
priest. |
| 3 |
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and
daughters. |
| 4
| And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to
repair the house of the LORD. |
|
5 | And he gathered together the priests
and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather
of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see
that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. |
| 6 | And
the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto 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? |
| 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 did they bestow upon
Baalim. |
| 8 |
And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it
without at the gate of the house of the LORD. |
| 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. |
|
10 | And all the princes and all the people rejoiced,
and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. |
| 11 |
Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto 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 his place again. Thus they did day by day, and
gathered money in abundance. |
|
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. |
|
13 | So the workmen wrought,
and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state,
and strengthened it. |
| 14 | And when they had finished it, they brought
the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels
for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, 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. |
| 15 | But Jehoiada
waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old
was he when he died. |
| 16 | And they buried him in the city of David
among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and
toward his house. |
| 17 | Now after the death of Jehoiada came the
princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto
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 for this their
trespass. |
| 19
| Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto
the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
|
| 20 | And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the
priest, which stood above the people, and said unto 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. |
| 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. |
|
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. |
| 23 |
And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host 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 unto the king of Damascus. |
| 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. |
| 25 | And when they were 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 sepulchres of the kings. |
|
26 | And these are they that
conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad
the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. |
| 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. |
