Joash Repairs the Temple
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah, from Beersheba.
And Joash did the upright in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he fathered sons and daughters.
And it was after this that it was with the heart of Joash to renew the house of the LORD.
And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them: “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel silver to strengthen the house of your God, year by year; and you — hurry the matter.” But the Levites did not hurry.
And the king called for Jehoiada the head, and said to him: “Why have you not required of the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the tax of Moses, the servant of the LORD, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?
For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God; and even all the holy things of the house of the LORD they had used for the Baals.”
And the king said, and they made one chest, and set it outside, at the gate of the house of the LORD.
And they gave voice through Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the tax of Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in the wilderness.
And all the officials and all the people rejoiced; and they brought it in and threw it into the chest, until it was full.
And it was, at the time the chest was brought to the king’s appointed officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much silver, that the scribe of the king came, with the officer of the head priest, and they would empty the chest, and carry it and return it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and they gathered silver in abundance.
And the king and Jehoiada gave it to the doers of the work of the service of the house of the LORD; and they hired stonecutters and craftsmen to renew the house of the LORD, and also workers in iron and bronze to strengthen the house of the LORD.
And the doers of the work labored, and the healing of the work went forward by their hand; and they made the house of God stand according to its proper design, and strengthened it.
And when they finished, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada; and he made from it vessels for the house of the LORD — vessels for serving and for offering, and dishes, and vessels of gold and silver. And they were offering up burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually, all the days of Jehoiada.
Jehoiada’s Death and Burial
And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died — a hundred and thirty years old at his death.
And they buried him in the city of David with the kings — for he had done good in Israel, and with God and his house.
The Wickedness of Joash
And after the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them.
And they abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols; and wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.
And he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to the LORD; and they testified against them — but they would not give ear.
And the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them: “Thus says God: Why are you crossing the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot succeed? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.”
And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stone at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the LORD.
And Joash the king did not remember the loyal love that Jehoiada his father had done with him, and he killed his son. And as he died, he said: “May the LORD see — and seek it out.”
The Death of Joash
And it was at the turn of the year that the force of Aram came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the officials of the people from among the people; and all their plunder they sent to the king of Damascus.
For with few men the force of Aram came, but the LORD gave into their hand a very great force — because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgments on Joash.
And when they went away from him — for they left him with many wounds — his own servants conspired against him, for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest; and they killed him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the city of David — but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite.
And his sons, and the greatness of the burden laid on him, and the founding of the house of God — look, they are written in the exposition of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son became king in his place.