¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign , and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem . His mother’s name was Zibiah , of Beersheba.

²Joash did that which was right in the LORD ’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest .

³Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he became the father of sons and daughters .

⁴After this , Joash intended to restore the LORD ’s house .

⁵He gathered together the priests and the Levites , and said to them , “Go out to the cities of Judah , and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year . See that you expedite this matter .” However the Levites didn’t do it right away .

⁶The king called for Jehoiada the chief , and said to him , “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD , and of the assembly of Israel , out of Judah and out of Jerusalem , for the Tent of the Testimony ?”

⁷For the sons of Athaliah , that wicked woman , had broken up God ’s house ; and they also gave all the dedicated things of the LORD ’s house to the Baals .

⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the LORD ’s house .

⁹They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem , to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness .

¹⁰All the princes and all the people rejoiced , and brought in , and cast into the chest, until they had filled it .

¹¹Whenever the chest was brought to the king ’s officers by the hand of the Levites , and when they saw that there was much money , the king ’s scribe and the chief priest ’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it , and carried it to its place again . Thus they did day by day , and gathered money in abundance .

¹²The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the LORD ’s house . They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD ’s house , and also those who worked iron and bronze to repair the LORD ’s house .

¹³So the workmen worked , and the work of repairing went forward in their hands . They set up God ’s house as it was designed, and strengthened it .

¹⁴When they had finished , they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada , from which were made vessels for the LORD ’s house , even vessels with which to minister and to offer , including spoons and vessels of gold and silver . They offered burnt offerings in the LORD ’s house continually all the days of Jehoiada .

¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days , and he died . He was one hundred and thirty years old when he died .

¹⁶They buried him in David ’s city amongst the kings , because he had done good in Israel , and towards God and his house .

¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada , the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king . Then the king listened to them .

¹⁸They abandoned the house of the LORD , the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols , so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.

¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again to the LORD , and they testified against them ; but they would not listen.

²⁰The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest ; and he stood above the people , and said to them , “God says , ‘Why do you disobey the LORD ’s commandments , so that you can ’t prosper ? Because you have forsaken the LORD , he has also forsaken you .’”

²¹They conspired against him , and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the LORD ’s house .

²²Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him , but killed his son . When he died , he said, “May the LORD look at it , and repay it .”

²³At the end of the year , the army of the Syrians came up against him . They came to Judah and Jerusalem , and destroyed all the princes of the people from amongst the people , and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus .

²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men ; and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand , because they had forsaken the LORD , the God of their fathers. So they executed judgement on Joash .

²⁵When they had departed from him (for they left him seriously wounded), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest , and killed him on his bed , and he died . They buried him in David ’s city , but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings .

²⁶These are those who conspired against him : Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess .

²⁷Now concerning his sons , the greatness of the burdens laid on him , and the rebuilding of God’s house , behold , they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings . Amaziah his son reigned in his place .