1 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name 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 desired 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 be diligent in this matter. However the Levites were not diligent. 6 Therefore 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 unto the tabernacle of the testimony the collection, according to the commandment of Moses, the slave of the LORD and of the congregation of Israel? 7 For the wicked woman, Athaliah, and her sons had broken up the house of God, and they had also bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD upon Baalim.
8 And at the king’s commandment they made an ark and set it outside 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 slave 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 ark until they had fulfilled their duty. 11 Now it came to pass, that at what time the ark 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 ark and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. 12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those that 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 those that wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD. 13 So the workmen wrought, and by their hands the work was done, and they restored the house of God and strengthened it. 14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which they made vessels for the house of the LORD, vessels to minister and to offer with, 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; he was one hundred and thirty years old 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, the princes of Judah came and worshipped 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 their guilt. 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 clothed himself in Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who being over the people, said unto them, Thus hath God said, Why do ye transgress the commandments of the LORD? Ye shall not prosper in this; for because ye have forsaken the LORD, he shall also forsake 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, did not remember the mercy which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him but slew his son; who said when he died, The LORD look upon it and require it.
23 And at the end of the year, 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 even though the army of the Syrians had come with a small company of men, the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgments against Joash.
25 And when they were departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own slaves 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 did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings. 26 Those that conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabitess. 27 Now concerning his sons, and of the multiplication that he did of the taxes 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.