Joash Repairs the Temple, Then Stones the Prophet's Son

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 to restore the house of the Lord. The sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the temple, plundered its dedicated things, and given them to the Baals. So Joash gathered the priests and Levites and ordered them to go through the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple year by year. He told them to hurry, but the Levites did not hurry.

The king then called for Jehoiada the chief priest and asked why the Levites had not collected the tax that Moses the servant of the Lord had laid upon Israel for the tent of testimony. So the king commanded that a chest be made and placed outside at the gate of the temple. A proclamation went out through Judah and Jerusalem for the people to bring in the tax of Moses. All the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought money, casting it into the chest until it was full.

Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the king's officers and they saw that it held 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 temple. The workmen labored, the repair went forward, and they set up the house of God in its proper state and strengthened it.

When the work was finished, they brought the remaining money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it they made vessels for the temple: vessels for ministering and offering, spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually.

Jehoiada grew old and full of days. He died at the age of one hundred thirty, and 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 Jehoiada died, 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 for this 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.” But they conspired against him, and at the king's command they stoned him in the court of the house of the Lord.

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

At the end of the year, the army of Syria 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 the Syrians executed judgment on Joash.

When they left him, he was very sick. 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 his sons, the burdens laid upon him, and the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. His son Amaziah reigned in his place.