Joash Repairs the Temple, Then Stones the Prophet

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign in Jerusalem, and he reigned forty years. His mother was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. For as long as Jehoiada the priest lived, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Jehoiada even chose two wives for him, and Joash fathered sons and daughters.

After some time, Joash set his mind on restoring the house of the Lord. He gathered the priests and Levites and ordered them to go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of God. He told them to hasten the work. But the Levites did not hasten.

The king called for Jehoiada the chief priest and pressed him: Why have you not required the Levites to bring in the tax that Moses the servant of the Lord and the assembly of Israel laid upon the people for the tent of testimony? For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had given all its dedicated things to the Baals.

So the king commanded that a chest be made and placed outside at the gate of the house of the Lord. A proclamation went through Judah and Jerusalem that everyone should bring in the tax Moses had laid upon Israel in the wilderness. All the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their money, casting it into the chest until it was full.

Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the king’s officers and they saw there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would come, empty the chest, and return it to its place. They did this day after day and gathered money in abundance. The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the workmen—masons, carpenters, and workers in iron and bronze—who repaired the house of the Lord. The work went forward, and they restored the house of God to its proper state and strengthened it.

When the work was finished, they brought the remaining money before the king and Jehoiada, and from it they made vessels for the house of the Lord: vessels for ministering and offering, spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died at the age of one hundred thirty. They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house.

But after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Joash listened to them. Then they forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their guilt. The Lord sent prophets to bring them back, and they testified against the people, but the people would not listen.

The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said, “Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.” They conspired against him, and at the king’s command they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.

Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada had shown him, but killed his son. As Zechariah died, he said, “The Lord look upon it and require it.”

At the end of that year, the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the Syrian army was small, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.

When the Syrians left, they left Joash severely wounded. His own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. The conspirators were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. The rest of the account of Joash, his sons, the great burdens laid upon him, and the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.